Home to Me
by iHeartYou13
Summary: He knew she was out there, that the replicator had to be wrong. So the question becomes; where was she? She knew something had happened, that her city wouldn't abandon her. So the question becomes; would she make it home?
1. Chapter 1

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Home to Me

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The sky was aflame with bright oranges and fiery reds and golden yellows and frosty pinks. The smell of the water far below her feet washed over her and the breeze that blew across the forest tickled her sun-kissed arms. Behind her, she could see the white tips of the outermost towers of the city; the silvery metal used for protection a distant beacon through a thin layer of green escape.

She didn't know how long she'd been on the planet, or why she was here in the first place, only that it had been long enough that anything could have happened. Long enough for Atlantis to be long gone from the planet she knew and loved after the replicator attack, long enough for the SGC to have sent a replacement for her. Long enough for her city to have moved on without her.

Footsteps on the grassy path behind her made her turn. "You mustn't dwell on such things, Elizabeth; they make you sad and that makes the rest of us sad."

Elizabeth tried to smile as she turned back to the setting sun. It was bigger than any of the others she'd seen. Out of the corner of her eye, the large moon began shimmering on the horizon, a silvery haze creeping up behind the purple edges of the sunset.

"I'm sorry, Edith, I was thinking of home,"

Edith moved closer and wrapped an arm around the younger woman's shoulders. "My girl, your home will find you when it finds you; you will return there soon enough. Come now, Tometh's waiting for you,"

Elizabeth smiled, the first real smile all day, at the old woman's teasing. She took the woman's dark, papery hands and let her pull her away from the cliff and back toward the city.

"Edith, you shouldn't encourage him like you do; you know as well as I-,"

"Yes, yes, I know; but he's so young; it's endearing, and his innocence can't possibly last through the Ritual,"

Elizabeth laughed quietly and the old woman's hand squeezed happily in response. "Edith, the boy is only 12 revolutions old; surely he can't be under the impression…"

Edith smiled over her shoulder. Elizabeth blushed.

"He's quite taken with you, young lady. Now, lets get you cleaned up; it's your party tonight after all, can't have you looking like you've been tramping through the trees with the hunters, can we?"

Elizabeth smiled again as they entered the city through the tall metal gates. They closed tightly behind them, but Elizabeth didn't feel as trapped as she once did.

They passed the massive Stargate on the way to Elizabeth's tower, but she didn't look at it. Not anymore; she used to sit for hours by it, hoping by some miracle they would find her.

The city was called Terradyn; it resembled Atlantis, but was not created by the Ancients and didn't have the same technology. The people seemed human, as advanced as she and the rest of Earth were, and they were kind. So she stayed.

"What did I tell you, Elizabeth? No more of these sad thoughts,"

"Are you reading my mind again, Edith?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in teasing. The old woman dropped Elizabeth's hand to pull open a door to the tower.

"Never, my sweet; although, even I wanted to I wouldn't have to. You're so sad the flowers are wilting."

Out of habit, Elizabeth looked over to the side of the steps; there were flowers, but they weren't wilting.

Edith laughed a deep, cheerful laugh that made Elizabeth smile, "You should see your face everytime I use that expression, oh child, you're good for me,"

Elizabeth shook her head, still smiling and followed the woman into the large tower, "Glad to amuse you Edith,"

The walls were a mossy green with silvery edges and patterns swirling across surface. The ceiling was mostly stone, though it was rarely cold in the tower.

They walked along until they came to a flight of stairs. Edith ascended first, pulling herself up the steps one at a time until she reached the top, with Elizabeth following, afraid the old woman would topple backward.

"I haven't fallen yet and I never will," Edith would say after every successful trip up the stairs.

Elizabeth smiled when the woman repeated the line at the top. "Yes, Edith," she recited dutifully.

They reached her sparsely decorated room and Elizabeth pulled on the faded blue pants and top the people had given her when she woke here and sat in front of the little mirror.

Her hair was longer than the last time she noticed, almost reaching the middle of her back in waves. Her eyes didn't shine with excitement and curiosity as they once did, but they showed signs of wisdom and discovery, which she guess was a fair trade off.

Edith shuffled over and pulled at her hair and clothes until she was satisfied.

"Alright Elizabeth, bite your lip," Edith busied herself with pinching Elizabeth's cheeks to bring some colour to her skin. All this technology and they hadn't bothered with modernized make up.

Elizabeth pulled her lower lip between her teeth and applied pressure, knowing it would be the same colour as the subtle pink and red lip gloss she'd favored before waking on the planet.

Edith stepped back and smiled widely in satisfaction. "You, my girl, are going to break the boy's heart,"

Elizabeth smiled lightly and turned for the door, "Yes, well, you've got no one to blame but yourself Edith; I told you not to encourage him."

Edith's laugh rang down the magnificent hall as they made their way back down the halls.

* * *

"Ronon, I'm fine I _swear_," Rodney tried unsuccessfully to pull his arm from Ronon's strong grip. 

John trailed behind the two curiously, "When Rodney denies being hurt after a training session, I think he's fine; he usually milks any injury like nothing I've seen. Ronon?"

Ronon just pulled Rodney along, not speaking until they were approaching the infirmary. "Just to be safe; wouldn't want the smartest man on Atlantis dying in the middle of a fight, would we?"

John stopped for a moment and the two made it a few paces ahead. A light flicked on in his head.

"Wait a minute! Dr. Keller's on duty today, _isn't_ she?"

Ronon turned to look over his shoulder at the shorter man, "I don't know, is she?"

Rodney looked up at Ronon, digging his heels in and managing to stop the Satedan. "This is about a **girl**? Oh, come on, you don't care about me at all, do you?"

Ronon looked at the two men, one extremely amused and the other on the verge of throwing some kind of fit.

"Of course, I could always just up the level of your training?" He spoke to Rodney. He paled.

"No, no; I think you're right. My chest does hurt a little, maybe we should get Dr. Keller to look at it," he hurried ahead on his own.

John rolled his eyes, "Pushover," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Ronon asked, moving forward again. "Cause I could always start teaching you knives."

John felt a smile tugging at his lips, "Yeah, yeah; not so much a threat."

"Can we just go?"

John took pity and the two finished the journey to the infirmary.

"Um, Ronon cracked me in the ribs during training," Rodney sounded remarkably and unsurprisingly like a little boy telling on the school bully.

"Ronon!" Jennifer looked over at Ronon as he entered and he smirked.

"Not my fault he didn't move like I taught him to,"

John raised an eyebrow, leaning idly against a rolling cart, to see how this was going to play out.

"And if I had been training with you? You crack everyone in the ribs like this?" she asked, smirking.

Ronon felt a tinge of blush rising in his face. He forced it down. "Nope, just the ones that don't learn to _move_."

Rodney whined as Jennifer probed his ribs, poking at them all. "_Ow_,"

Jennifer looked up at him, skeptical, "Oh, relax Dr. McKay; they're fine. There isn't even any bruising. Take some pain meds and you'll be fine."

Rodney jumped up, rouse gone and grabbed the pain pills, no doubt to add to the stash in his room and pack for when he managed to get hurt on his own.

John remained curious as he watched Ronon and Jennifer looking at each other.

"You knew he wasn't hurt."

"No I didn't, that's why I brought him here,"

Jennifer offered a small smile and Ronon smiled back. "So, was he your only patient?"

Jennifer looked around the empty infirmary, not noticing John leaning against the cart. "Uh, yeah,"

Ronon felt nervous as Jennifer looked around, avoiding his eyes. "Well, you eaten yet?"

Jennifer still didn't meet his eyes, but she shook her head.

Ronon smiled, confidence growing. "You want to come eat with me? I mean, the brave doctor of Atlantis can't fail her people by fainting of hunger, can she?"

Jennifer smiled and looked up at Ronon. Ronon felt warmth spark somewhere in his stomach.

"That might not be the best thing,"

Ronon grinned, "Well then?"

Jennifer looked around again, "I shouldn't leave, if someone comes…I'm the only one on duty."

Ronon faltered a little and John felt his jaw drop.

"But, if you brought it here?" Ronon was amused at the nervous question in her voice.

"I'll be back." He turned to leave. John watched in fascination as Jennifer grinned and turned to some papers and Ronon stopped in the doorway.

"Hey Dr. Keller?"

Jennifer looked up, "Yes, Mr. Dex?"

Ronon smiled and John's jaw dropped lower. "Jennifer,"

"Yeah, Ronon?"

They were smiling now. Ronon crossed the small space again and kissed her quickly on the cheek before leaving again, a blush definitely taking over his face this time.

John's cart sailed out from under him and he crashed to the floor as it crashed into the wall.

"Col. Sheppard!" Jennifer gasped. Had he been in the room the whole time? Heat rushed to her cheeks as she crossed to him.

"Hey, Doc," he replied from the floor.

* * *

Elizabeth sat in her chair, watching the bonfire light up the happy faces of her new friends and family. 

Edith was sitting with her old friends, talking and laughing and eating.

A tall, thin boy sat down next to Elizabeth.

"This is your celebration Elizabeth, finally, a cycle you made on your own without becoming ill."

Elizabeth smiled at the boy, "I know, Tometh, I'm sorry if I'm ruining your fun."

Tometh grinned, blushing deeply under Elizabeth's green eyed gaze. None of the other women in Terradyn had such eyes. Surprisingly, only the males had colored eyes; the women's remained brown.

"Not at all; allow me to cheer you up. A dance perhaps?" Elizabeth could hear the pleading and hope in his voice and felt guilty for nodding. She sighed internally as the fast drum beats got louder as they neared the dance floor.

Soon, the sea of people swallowed her up and, thankfully, carried her away from Tometh for the time being.

She found herself on the other side of the large mass of bodies, toward the great front gates of the city and the Stargate. Elizabeth took a look at the celebrating people, so happy about her growing strength, and felt like an outsider all over again.

Moving away from the heat of the fire and the people and toward the dark, cold edge of the city, Elizabeth looked up. The large moon filled half the sky, it seemed; bright and silvery-grey and brilliant.

She breathed in the scent of the cooking food and the flowers she passed. She wandered over to the Stargate, the massive stone ring giving her sense of home, a sense of somewhere.

Elizabeth stood leaning her forehead against the cold stone, feeling it strong beneath her. Turning to lean her back on it, she didn't see Edith and Edith's husband, Kennyth, strolling down the same path.

"Elizabeth? Is that you? What are you doing way over there, child, your party is getting better and better, though I fear Tometh has-,"

The woman was cut off as the ground began trembling and rocking beneath their feet. Elizabeth looked up in frozen alarm as the Stargate shook violently against it's supports.

"Elizabeth! Get away from there!" Edith yelled as the gate began lighting up.

Elizabeth knew it was coming, but she couldn't move, paralyzed by fear and hope. The desperate need to see what was coming.

Kennyth's strong body slammed into her as the gate opened, the event horizon exploding outward in it's bubbling glory.

She hit the ground and felt the gash on her arm already bleeding. From her side view, she saw a machine slide through. What was left of Elizabeth's breath from the fall escaped her as the small camera rotated to the left. She felt like crying because she was to the right.

Kennyth was pulling her to her feet and they were running. The old man was still in good shape.

"_Wait_! **No**! Edith, **wait**! Kennyth, _stop_!" But he pulled her along as Edith hurried along behind her.

"Elizabeth keep running; the ring has never opened as long as I've lived and I don't intend to see what comes through next!"

"**No**! You don't _understand_!" Tears were beginning to flow down her cheeks as she ran with Kennyth. Alarms were going off around her and people were running; the bonfire was doused a little, but not put out completely. The table remained standing, but half the table cloth pulled off, spilling food as children yanked it as they ran.

Armed guards ran past Elizabeth, Edith and Kennyth toward the gate. "No! Stop! Listen to me!"

She felt herself getting weaker and weaker; she still wasn't as strong as before. Before whatever happened to her. Why wouldn't they just stop?

Suddenly, Elizabeth was falling and the ground was coming up fast. Strong arms caught her and lifted her. She was carried up steps and her exhaustion claimed her. The last thing she remembered was her heavy bedroom door slamming shut and the external lock sliding into place.

She didn't dream.

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mkay. so. this is going to be my first attempt at writing for SGA, i've been a fan a long time, so i thought i'd give it a try. 

i dont own them and i certainly am not making money so i'll say it once and only once. i trust u brilliant people to remember :)

reviews keep me going, as long as they're nice or constructive!

thanks!

BTW, im still writing the PP fic, 'Two Weeks of Hell', i just had to get this out before i left it. :)


	2. Chapter 2

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**Home to Me

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John drummed his fingers against the conference room table as Rodney droned on about the latest planet the probe had visited. He hadn't put much stock in probes before, but seeing as how it had helped them in the past, he gave the hunk of metal some attention.

"Rodney, what's the _point_ of this speech?" he asked loudly, stopping his drumming.

Rodney looked around at the rest of his team; Teyla looked interested, though it was more a polite interest than anything, he could tell. Ronon looked restless, having had to cancel his _'lunch thing'_ with Dr. Keller. Even Sam looked just this side of bored.

"My _point_," he gestured to the projected screen, "is that this planet looks to be at the same point of technological advancements as we are; they have similar structures to Atlantis, what little of the people we've seen look human enough too."

"And you want us to go there?" Ronon asked irritably, slouching back in his chair.

Rodney glared at the bigger man, "Yes,"

"Why did you not start with this request, Rodney?" Teyla looked at him questioningly. Was that a hint of annoyance in her voice?

"Well, if I had, you wouldn't have found all this out about the planet."

"Do you really think we actually **remember** anything you were just rambling on about?" John asked, leaning forward on his forearms resting on the table top.

Sam stepped in, "What do you want to do there Rodney?"

"Same old stuff, no need for violence," he glared at Ronon again who just smirked back and prepared to stand.

"Is that it? Can we go now?" he asked, already half way to the door.

"Yeah, that's all but-," Sam stopped as Ronon left the conference room. "He doesn't like me does he?"

John smiled, "Don't worry about it."

"Someone tell him you have a go, you can leave 2 hours."

* * *

When Elizabeth awoke, the sun was filtering through her window, warming the room to a comfortable temperature. Her head was pounding and her arm hurt. There was a white bandage around it. 

Just as she was sitting up, the events from the night before came to her mind.

She got out of bed and changed from the previous night's clothes into a similar set of green colour and pulled on her boots. Rushing to the door, she almost collided with it as it swung open.

"Ah, Elizabeth, you're awake; how are you feeling?"

Elizabeth looked Edith up and down; all the panic from the night before was gone from her form.

"What happened last night?"

Edith ushered her into the room and Elizabeth noticed she carried a small tray with food and tea on it. A tall cup of water rested on the tray too. As Edith set it down, Elizabeth picked up the water.

"The ring opened; a machine came through. There were people on the other end who wanted to talk! Who knew that was what the device was for?"

Elizabeth felt hope swell in her chest, "Really? Did these people say where they were from?"

Edith eyed the younger woman, "Yes, a city called Atlantis,"

Elizabeth dropped the cup and water sloshed across the floor. "They found me," she whispered, a smile beginning to grow.

"Have the people come through yet?" she demanded anxiously. Edith fought down the disappointment that Elizabeth was so eager to leave.

"Not yet; they're coming soon." Edith watched as Elizabeth grinned happily, moving around the room, pacing.

"This is excellent news! My people are coming! I can go home!"

Edith smiled, enjoying Elizabeth's obvious giddiness. "Yes; I told you your people would find you when they were ready. Your home has found you at last."

Elizabeth could hear the note of sadness in the old woman's voice; she turned and moved across the room to hug the woman. Edith smelled of spices and flowers and breakfast and Elizabeth squeezed her tight.

"Oh, of _course_ I'll come back and visit, Edith! You saved my life! I'm not sure how, or from what, but I owe you so much. I'd miss you all too much to stay away,"

Edith smiled into Elizabeth's shoulder and squeezed back. "Maybe, it's time we told you the truth, my sweet."

Elizabeth pulled back, but Edith caught her hands and led her to Elizabeth's bed. They and Edith chose her words.

"We found you, a little under half a revolution ago in the forest; there was a small clearing and you had wrecked in a ship of some kind. Mind you, we hadn't seen many ships, just small models we'd been testing."

_Edith peered around the tree as her husband came around as well. "What happened?"_

_Kennyth moved forward slowly, watching for signs of life. "I'm not sure; call Roder,"_

_Edith moved off to find the leader of the hunters, picking her way through the undergrowth._

_Kennyth moved closer, pushing aside a scrap of metal. It sizzled, but his skin remained unburned. He gasped as a young woman was revealed. As he watched, her torn and ragged skin slowly pulled back together._

_The woman was pale and twisted among the wreckage; blood soaked her uniform and the surrounding ground and plants. She had dark hair and freckles._

_Kennyth stepped next to her, setting his bag down on the ruined seat of the craft. He hesitated only a moment before laying his fingers against her pale throat. A pulse beat strongly against the skin and he felt some relief._

_The sun was high in the sky and he was beginning to sweat among the debris. The woman stirred._

_He shifted forward to touch the skin of her forehead; where a gash had once pulsed blood, a puffy pink scar was forming and fading before his eyes._

_"Please," the voice was weak and pitiful, full of pain and pleading. "Don't touch me,"_

_"You are safe, child, rest still; we'll help you."_

_"No," but she was losing the battle with conscious thought. Edith and Roder emerged through the trees._

_"Kennyth, what are you doing?" Roder hissed, moving forward cautiously, weapon raised. _

_"She's a young woman; she's injured. I think she's confused too. We must help her,"_

_"Roder lift her; we'll bring her back to Terradyn," Edith said without thought. Roder sighed and obeyed his elder. Lifting her, she was light and didn't resist him. _

_They began moving away from the wreck._

"We brought you back here, to this room, and watched as your injuries healed before our eyes; we didn't know what to think."

Elizabeth sat stunned; so she'd been injected with replicator parts. Maybe that was why no one came looking for her for so long?

"What did you do? I don't heal like that now," Elizabeth held up her arm as proof; the bandage wasn't blood soaked, but it needed to be changed.

"It wasn't until the elder Minhe saw you that we knew something was different,"

_"She is of the enemy army, making its way across our skies," Minhe spoke confidently. She was an old woman, hair snow white, but thick and long. She was dark-skinned from time outdoors and she had and air about her that commanded attention._

_"The army?" Edith asked, sitting as close as she was allowed to the young woman._

_"Yes; every few solar days, one will fall to our planet, damaged beyond repair. The council has found a way to remove what makes them so formidable; presently, they fall apart as if made of ash when we remove their pieces."_

_Edith looked down at the woman, beautiful and young; surely she was no enemy?_

_"Could I try to-,"_

_"No. You must never use your gift on her, Edith; I forbid you. We don't know the extent of their capabilities."_

_Edith nodded in understanding, but her heart went out the woman._

"You took the nanites out of me?" Elizabeth gasped out, looking down at her hands as if they held the answers.

Edith smiled thinly, "Yes, though you almost died doing it; apparently, they were the only things keeping you alive. This we found the difficult way,"

_"She's dying!" Edith yelled as the woman's monitor beeped its distress._

_"She's not fully made of the enemy virus cells," Minhe spoke, shock and surprise coloring her face and voice._

_"Use the charges," she continued._

_After a day of work, the monitor stopped alarming them every few moments and the woman was more stable._

_"She has shown us a miracle, she herself is one. We are lucky; perhaps, when she is feeling better, she can tell us of her ordeal." Minhe spoke before leaving the small hospital and the two other women in peace._

_Edith stroked the woman's hand, "You're safe now, you can wake; no one here will hurt you. You're our miracle from the skies,"_

_The woman remained asleep for days, Edith and Kennyth by her side. When she did finally rejoin the conscious, she was weak. It would be a long road to recovery._

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Elizabeth asked in awe, tears filling her eyes.

"You were so weak before; Kennyth, Minhe and I were worried about telling you so much when you didn't remember it yourself. We were afraid it would cause more damage. Forgive an old woman and her older friends?"

Elizabeth smiled and pulled the woman into another hug. She was still in shock.

"Is that why Minhe doesn't ask about how I am? Because she thinks I won't forgive her?"

Edith looked away, smirk on her face, "Minhe's flaw; she worries too much. I told her you were of a forgiving nature."

Elizabeth smiled and leaned back on pillows as the old woman stood to bring the tray back over.

"Now, eat something; Minhe wants to know if you will help greet our visitors."

* * *

John and Ronon stood in the gate room, waiting for Rodney to arrive. He was already 5 minutes late. 

"So, how was your date with Keller?" John asked casually.

Ronon didn't react much, "Wasn't a date; just lunch between friends. I have other friends besides you and Teyla you know,"

"And me," Rodney objected, finally entering the room.

Ronon smirked, "Yeah, sure,"

Rodney grinned and zipped up his vest and adjusted his pack, "Ready?"

"For about 6 minutes now," John answered, turning and motioning for the gate tech to dial them up.

"So, excited?" Rodney obviously was; this break in tradition from too advanced and not enough to something on a level playing field was something to celebrate.

"Oh, yeah," John said sarcastically as the gate whooshed open.

Ronon smirked and moved to the gate first, "No fighting,"

* * *

Minhe had allowed her to greet the arriving travelers and Elizabeth was bubbling over with excitement. She became more and more anxious as the gate lit up, one chevron at a time. 

She wondered at first who would come through; John and his team? A different team? Right now she didn't care; Elizabeth just wanted to see a friendly face from Atlantis. Any friendly face.

The gate exploded out again and Elizabeth held her breath. 'A friendly face, a friendly face,' she chanted in her head.

When the travelers stepped through, her breath left her and Elizabeth staggered back a step. This was not a friendly face; it was her own.

* * *

DUN DUN DUN lol :)

i hope u liked this, plz review!

thanks to all of your wonderful reviews! it's much appreciated and i'm so glad you like it!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews, they keep me warm in this cold Canadian winter!

**sparklyshimmer2010-**i'm sure you'll pick it up soon, sorry if it's a little confusing right, no worries :)

**Jean.DuVent-**no im not trying to kill you lol, here you, enjoy!

**babygurl1944-**thanks for the review! much appreciated!

**Charmed225-**thanks so much! i'm glad u like it so far! sorry for the evil cliffie, but it had to be done )

**Cocoa Girl2-**ur a mindreader, dude lol you raise good points, thanks for the input and review!

**Woodentree**-lol thanks so much, im glad ur convinced!

**Wormhole-**here it is! enjoy!

here's the next bit until Sunday guys!

enjoy and review!

* * *

**Home to Me

* * *

**

John, Ronon and Rodney stepped through to the other side of the gate. What they found was a beautiful field of lush, green grass and silver tower in the distance. To the left of the gate was what seemed to be a small settlement and to the right was a path twisting through the fields into the distant forest.

"Well, let's go meet the locals, shall we?"

Ronon pulled out his gun and Rodney his sensors and the trio headed toward the settlement. There were modern-looking tents, with what looked like air pumps and rain covers, a fire pit, and some larger, more permanent buildings that seemed to hold all the people.

A tall, well-built man greeted them just outside the little settlement, "You must be the team from Atlantis,"

John lowered his weapon to shake the taller man's hand, "Yeah, Colonel John Sheppar, Ronon Dex, Dr. Rodney McKay,"

"My name is Councilor Formay Hut; welcome to the temporary settlement of Hytuk."

"Thanks, so, care to show us around?"

The tall man smirked slightly, "Of course, however, first you must meet with our elder, and tell us how the ring works; we are a curious people."

John had heard this one before; he looked around the camp. Trees lined the back of the settlement, about 6 tents were set up; an eating area and a secluded area that he assumed to be for toiletries sat at opposite ends of the back.

"Can we bring our weapons," Ronon's question was more of a statement, a test. If the man said no, there would be suspicion.

"Of course, this way," Formay didn't seem to fazed by the sight of Ronon's gun. He lead them into one of the more sturdy buildings and to the left of the single, long stone hallway.

"This is going to make me sick, I know it," Rodney muttered, talking about the damp chill of the building.

"Suck it up," John muttered back. They stopped in front of a cloth covered door frame; the fabric was a vibrant red and almost transparent. There were 4 figures on the other side.

"May we enter?" Formay called out. The closest figure to the door pulled it open; it was a young woman with shocking white hair and a scar along her right eyebrow.

"Formay, welcome back," the woman greeted him with a hug.

"I told you it would be safe, little sister,"

John, Rodney and Ronon followed him the rest of the way in. An old woman sat in a comfortable looking chair. What drew their attention wasn't the wrinkled, dark face or the commanding presence of the woman; it was the fresh gash along the side of her face.

"What happened?" John asked reflexively.

"There has been a problem in the city, that's all," Formay answered.

A tense silence descended around the room until Rodney broke it, "So, um, I was wondering if there was any technology you would be willing to show us in return for the information about the gate?"

Formay seemed grateful for the change in subject, he guided McKay and Ronon to the door, the former volunteering to make sure the doctor didn't get himself into trouble.

"There is, right this way."

John stood alone with just the elder and the other 3 people in the room. "Colonel John Sheppard," he said by way of greeting.

"I am Freha, the elder of this settlement. What is it that interested you so about our people?"

John shifted from foot to foot; there was a table and chairs to his right, next to the elder, but he didn't think he'd be asked to sit until they knew more about him.

"We saw your city in the background; it looks similar to the city we live in. We're explorers from a city called Atlantis and we're always on the lookout for people at the same stage of advancements as we are."

Freha eyed him carefully, "What do you want in our city? It is impossible to get there at the moment,"

John frowned imperceptibly, "We wanted to talk to your people, maybe form an alliance, a trade agreement, that kind of thing,"

Freha considered this and motioned for the others to leave before she looked at him again. They left soundlessly and John felt goose bumps raise on his arms. Freha motioned for him to sit.

He did and she spoke again, "There is one thing you could do that would cement any kind of relations between our peoples,"

John nodded, always dreading this part; he never really was very good at negotiations. Another reason he missed Elizabeth; his list was growing steadily.

"What's that?"

The old woman hesitated, thinking about burdening the strangers with her problem, but pushed ahead anyway. "Between this settlement and the city you saw beyond the forest we have a shaky communication line; usually, runners are sent with any significant news. Our communication line went down a few moments before you arrived, which ordinarily would be no cause for concern,"

"Was it something we did?" John asked, fearing the response. The old woman smiled tightly and he relaxed a bit.

"No, Colonel Sheppard; this is different. Usually, we are able to reconnect within moments, creating another unstable line, but this time, we've had nothing so far."

John didn't understand; no one had entered the room behind them to give this news, so how had she known? How did she know anything that was happening if she was in here talking to him?

"You have questions, I'll answer them later; now, our city has formidable defenses, if they should ever need them. Since learning you could come through the gate, a new security risk became significant,"

"Off world threats," John said and Freha nodded.

"Yes, we fear our city has become compromised; if that is the case, if you could evacuate us safely, we would most openly share any technology or medical discoveries you wish to see."

John thought this through, "You want us to go and check out this city to see if it's been compromised?"

Freha sighed heavily, "Yes, it is a big favor to ask of you, I know you have no reason to help; this would most definitely go a long way in our relations,"

John nodded to himself, "Alright, I'll discuss this with my team; how far to the city gates?"

"Half a day's swift journey through the forest. A little longer if you go around the valley and not across it."

John sighed internally; why was his team always stuck with doing the dirty work? "Okay, I'll go find my team and we'll see what we can do. Can you point us in the right direction?"

"I'll have Formay go with you; he knows the forest better than any other here,"

John nodded again and stood to leave and go find Rodney and Ronon; they were not going to like this.

* * *

"_Ow_! **Damnit**! I hate the forest!" Rodney proclaimed loudly and for the umpteenth time in 10 minutes. 

John sighed, "Rodney, we keep telling you to pack bug spray."

"I could have just stayed at the settlement!" Rodney whined. Ronon glared at the back of the complaining scientists head.

"I could have just pushed you into the valley when we came to it," he said.

Rodney turned to look at him, "Oh, _hilarious_ Mr. Rambo man,"

John smirked and pushed ahead of the two to Formay, a few paces ahead. "Are they always like this?"

John nodded to the taller man, "You have no idea,"

Formay accepted this and held out an arm to stop the group.

"If you don't shut up I swear I'm going to-,"

"Ronon, stop," John hissed. They listened as what seemed like an electric hum flew over head.

"What was that?" Rodney whispered fiercly, inching closer to the middle of the group.

Formay sighed in relief, "False emergency, it sounds like the communication line might be stable again,"

"So we can go back?" Rodney asked hopefully, pulling out his sensor pad to confirm Formay's theory.

"No, we still must determine why it was down so long in the first place,"

"Of course," Rodney mumbled. The group pushed on.

* * *

Edith gripped Elizabeth's hand as the gate shut down behind the new arrivals; the fair skinned woman looked to be Elizabeth's twin. 

Minhe had collapsed on sight of the strangers and Kennyth crouched above her, tending to the scratch on her cheek.

"What is going on?" Edith whispered. The new group seemed just as shocked.

"I don't know," Elizabeth mumbled back, still frozen in shock. They looked down at the crumpled form of Minhe, Kennyth kneeling over her.

"Oh, my god." Came the whispered response of the Elizabeth look alike. Elizabeth looked back up to her.

The double came down the two steps carefully, eyes on Elizabeth. "I can't believe it,"

Elizabeth held her ground, but shook with fear on the inside. "Who are you?"

"I'm, I was, Elizabeth Weir." The group that had come through with the doubled Elizabeth caught the attention next.

"John, Rodney," Elizabeth looked up at them, tears forming quickly as her double moved back with them. "Teyla, Ronon."

Edith squeezed Elizabeth's hand tighter. "Who _are_ these strangers?"

John stepped forward and this time, Elizabeth couldn't help but move forward. With her free hand, she began to reach out, but John pulled back a bit.

She frowned slightly. He smiled half-heartedly back.

"There's some stuff we should talk about," he said.

Ronon, Teyla and Rodney came down as well and Elizabeth felt overwhelmed. Her double, however, stood back, watching on with unreadable eyes.

* * *

Rodney pulled out his power bar and stared at it as the group took a short rest. 

"You gonna eat it or stare at it?" Ronon asked, amused.

Rodney glared at him, "Shut it, lover boy, I was just deciding whether to give in to my hunger now or wait until later."

Ronon glared at Rodney again, "You know, if it'll make you less irritating, I say you eat now; before I stun you,"

Rodney glared back, "You don't scare me anymore, I have something you hold over you head; believe me, I hold grudges."

John sighed from the other side of Ronon, "Just _eat the bar_, Rodney, and I'll give you mine later if you also pretend to be a brave little toaster and keep moving through the damn forest."

Ronon looked confused, "A toaster? What's so brave about a toaster?"

"It's a kids movie, I'll show it to you on my laptop when we're back on Atlantis," John said.

"You have 'the Brave Little Toaster' on your laptop?" Rodney snorted.

"It was a mistake, Rodney," John said, irritation growing again.

"Right," Rodney responded, ripping open the power bar wrapper.

Formay came back from scouting ahead; his eyebrows were draw tight, "We must continue, the communication line is down again,"

They set off, Rodney complaining and Ronon threatening, for the city.

* * *

"They said you were dead," John said as the group plus both Elizabeth's, Edith, Kennyth and Minhe settled into a private room in the most protected tower. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Elizabeth said, eyes still having trouble leaving her double's face.

"We're all doubles; replicator doubles," Elizabeth said, smiling lightly at her original.

"The replicators _doubled_ us? Why?"

"That's a very long story; what's interesting is that **they said you were dead**," John said again, resisting the urge to reach other and touch her hand.

"We found her here, crashed in a ship," Minhe stated from her seat next to Elizabeth.

Ronon looked up from his spot next to Teyla, leaning against the wall, "A ship?"

Elizabeth looked over at him and felt another swell of familiarity. She wanted to talk to them about everything, anything other than this. She didn't care about why there were how they were, she just wanted to go home.

"How's Atlantis? All the people?" Elizabeth asked.

"We wouldn't know," her double answered.

Teyla spoke up next, "We decided it for the best not for us to return. We are replicators; it would not have been safe. It is luck that we found an old probe to send through the gate and luck that let us find this city,"

Edith watched them all closely, warily; she still had her fingers laced and gripped in Elizabeth's, refused to let go.

"So it's moved then," Elizabeth said, sadness coloring her voice.

"Yeah," John answered. Elizabeth finally looked away from the doubles of her friends, her family. How cruel was this? Her home dangled in front her, only to be yanked back by reality.

"What do we do now?" Elizabeth asked, squeezing Edith's hand.

"We had a plan once we found a civilization advanced enough and generous enough to help us contact our allies, but we hadn't found one until now." Rodney said.

Edith watched as the Elizabeth double's eyes seemed to glaze over, seeing nothing. This one worried her more than the others, sent chills down her spine. She hoped that her instincts would be wrong for a change.

* * *

this was just kind a filler to present who's where and doing what; gold stars to whoever can guess what's going on :)  
thanks for ALL THE WONDERFUL REVIEWS! YOU ALL ROCK!

please keep reviewing! they make me so very happy! D


	4. Chapter 4

hey guys! thanks to all for reviewing! i really appreciate it!

**Charmed225-** thanks a lot, i'm glad it's getting clearer for you:)

**Jean.DuVent.-** lol, thanks so much for the review and (gasp!) i think you may have read my mind with your guess (gold stars for you)

**sparklyshimmer2010-** lol im not trying to be mean i swear! your guess is half right, so i'll u some gold stars anywho mkay?

**saphiretwin369-** glad you like it! don't worry, it'll happen soon enough :)

enjoy!

**

* * *

**

**Home to Me**

**

* * *

**

The sky was almost completely filled with stars by the time John, Ronon, Rodney and Formay reached the silvery city gates. They paused a few feet away to try to determine the best way in.

"John Sheppard, if there are strangers in the city, going through the front gates might alert them to our presence,"

John nodded, looking between the bars on the locked gate. "Yeah, you're right; but the gate's locked down tight for the night anyway. Is there another gate in? A way maybe behind that tower over there?"

Rodney craned his neck around the tall council member and spotted the huge, glittering tower; it looked otherworldly, more so than he was sure it looked when they saw it coming through the gate.

"Why not just jump a wall?" Ronon asked, already moving toward one. Formay's arm shot out and stopped him.

"No, we must not; if there are guards or people out for a walk and see dark figures climbing over their walls, panic will inevitably follow,"

"So what do you suggest?" Rodney asked, tired of squatting in the dark dirt.

Formay looked up at the sky, to the left and right, and then motioned along the right side of the wall in front of them.

"The people will believe that the moonlight will help spot any visitors and so the security might be weaker along the other side; follow."

They took off in a slow jog along the wall in a single file; Rodney pulled up the rear, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds as if expecting someone to be following them.

"Here; Ronon Dex, if I may?" Formay stopped them and gestured for Ronon to step forward from behind John. Ronon knelt and made a foothold with his hands. Formay nodded a thanks and a cue and Ronon hoisted him over the shorter side of the gate.

There was a soft thud on the other side as he landed and the team held their breath. The forest was still around them as they waited to be let in. The gate soon silently opened, revealing Formay and a small section of what they assumed to be the city square, or the equivalent of it.

"This way," Formay led them inside the walls and Rodney pushed the gates closed behind them. They clanged together noisily and the other three men turned sharply to look at him. He winced as he turned to look back at the three angry faces.

"**_Rodney_**!" John hissed. Ronon glared at him and Formay quickly glanced around the small space. A shadow was moving across the walls towards them, slowly but surely.

"Conceal yourselves!" Formay whispered fiercely as he all but dove into a shadowed doorway. Rodney ducked behind a thick brush just inside the gate and John and Ronon found another, larger doorway to hide in.

From their positions, they couldn't see the person coming, but they could hear the light footsteps of an adult.

Rodney pressed closer into the bushes and closed his eyes, silently hoping he could remain invisible. He heard the figure stop on the edge of their little opening, just out of their eye-sight. He held his breath; he was the closest to that edge.

The figure stopped and seemed to turn away to leave. Rodney felt something tickling in his nose.

'_Oh, perfect_,' he thought frantically as he tried to hold in the sneeze. Tears sprang to his eyes, blurring his vision, at the effort just as the person seemed to be just close enough to see. He scrunched up his face and ducked his head. The sneeze passed.

When Rodney looked up again, there was only the sounds of his breathing and the figure walking away, as slowly and obliviously as they'd come. He sighed gratefully and rolled from behind his bush, seeing the others slowly unfold from their hiding places as well.

* * *

Elizabeth couldn't sleep. Her double and the other team were sleeping in the 2 rooms across from hers, Edith and Kennyth down the hall. 

The moon was full and bright and the stars glittered in the sky like diamonds. Feeling restless, Elizabeth slipped from her bed and pulled on the slipper-like shoes Edith had given her when she'd arrived. Her boots would make too much noise to sneak out.

Out in the fresh air, her mind cleared a little and she wandered through the darkened city, watching the sky every now and then.

As Elizabeth walked down an alley she'd not explored before, she thought she heard a metallic ringing, like gates clashing together. She froze for a moment before moving forward to investigate; with her luck in was Tometh and his friends sneaking back in and she'd have the chance to pretend the replicator doubles had never come and be normal, teasing the young boy.

She rounded the corner and stopped, taking in the empty courtyard; she thought the bushes rustled a little, but Elizabeth knew that the lack of sleep and the breeze airing the city were responsible. She stood for a while, taking in the new site before turning to leave.

Elizabeth sighed and walked back the way she came; just as she was about to enter the tower again, she nearly ran into Kennyth.

"Elizabeth? What are you doing up so late?" Kennyth asked tiredly.

Elizabeth's heard was pounding from the scare, "Kennyth you startled me; I was just taking a wa-," she stopped for a second. "How'd you know it was me and not the double?"

Kennyth smiled at the curiosity, "Simple, the other one wasn't given the same clothing as you; unless she's a thief as well as an explorer, she wouldn't wear those clothes."

Elizabeth smiled and the two went back inside together.

"And she doesn't smile quite like you," Kennyth continued. Elizabeth and the old man chuckled as they ascended the stairs and went back into their rooms.

* * *

"No more sugar for you." John declared as they all came out of the shadows. 

"I'm _sorry_ if this planet seems to hate me, it's not my fault!" Rodney defended himself, brushing off the last of the leaves and dirt from his uniform.

Formay smirked to himself and led the way along another alley until they were in the city square; the moon provided light enough to search out which building would most likely hold who he was looking for.

"We need to find the city elder, she will know what's going on here," Formay said and they set off into the city.

After five minutes of silent walking, Ronon's eye caught something off to the side. "Hey, Sheppard, is that what it looks like?"

John turned and looked where Ronon was looking and he frowned, taking a step closer to it. "Formay, is that another…" he trailed off.

"Ring? Yes, why?" Formay motioned off the path of the street to the side the gate was on.

"That looks like a probe from Atlantis. You think others are here?" Rodney asked, moving toward the probe.

"Possibly, do you know anything about this?"

Formay was frowning, and he shook his head. "No, our settlement only returns to the city for the white season; we haven't told the city people that the ring can open between worlds,"

John nodded slowly, understanding. "Alright, so is it possible these, strangers, you're all worried about are just more of our people?"

Formay looked over at him, "It is possible, yes. We should go back and tell Freha of our discovery; if it is necessary, we can return later."

"What? Another trip back through the forest of Hell just to come all the way _back_ **later**?" Rodney complained, slumping down on the ground.

"Oh, come on Rodney, where's your sense of adventure," John joked.

"Back in Atlantis, where I wish I was,"

"Why don't we just do what we came here to do before we go back? If we can tell who's here, we won't have to waste time on another hike. Especially with McKay," Ronon said.

"No; Freha will tell us whether or not we need to come back. The city people cannot find us here, they won't be happy."

"Why not?" Rodney asked uneasily.

"We only share the city during the white season, which is very far off," Formay glanced around before speaking again, "Please, Freha can answer all your questions better than I, but we need to leave now,"

"Alright, let's get moving," John said and the four began making their way back to the forest and through it.

* * *

By the time they returned to the settlement, it was nearing mid morning and the men were tired, hungry and dirty from the trip through the forest. 

"**_Food_**," Rodney said, his mouth watering, as he neared the fire pit; meat was roasting over the flames and Rodney saw bread, cheese, water and fruit on separate bowls around the circle. The people cooking offered it to him quickly and made room for him to sit. They laughed to themselves as he dug in enthusiastically.

"I'm gonna get cleaned up," Ronon said, heading for the back area. John stopped off at the rooms assigned to them and dumped his pack on the floor. He wandered around until he found Formay.

"Can I speak to Freha?"

The two went into the building. John offhandedly noticed her cut was much better.

"Freha, we went to the city; we discovered it might be more of John Sheppard's people in the city and-,"

"It is not," Freha cut off Formay. John shifted from foot to foot.

"Are you sure?" he asked childishly.

"I am; it is the enemy from above. From time to time they crash in our forest; when we are lucky enough to find them in one piece, they crumble on our touch. We've seen a few battles in our skies, though they don't seem interested in harming our people."

John felt a twinge of panic in his chest along with doubt. "You mean, like, people falling from the sky?"

"Yes, they have traces of metal and electromagnetic fields; our people have made these advances from their demise."

John felt a swell of frustration, "Replicators,"

"Is that what you call them?" Formay asked.

John nodded once, "Damn near indestructible; we thought we got them all a few weeks ago. I need to find the rest of my team. In the mean time, round up your people; I'll see what I can do by way of evacuation."

He left the building and sought out Rodney and Ronon, the latter enjoying a meal as well.

"Okay guys, we have a problem." John said by way of greeting.

Rodney looked up, a piece of bread hanging from his lips. "What is it?'

Ronon smacked him in the back of the head and the bread dropped into his lap. "_Ow_,"

"Guys; Freha says its replicators in the city. I don't know how she knows this, but they've been finding replicator parts falling from the sky."

"I thought we got them all?" Rodney said, paling slightly.

"Thought wrong, apparently," John answered.

"There seems to be fighting internally; I'm gonna dial up Atlantis and see if Sam will let us evac the settlement. How many you say there are here?" John asked, already moving away.

"Maybe a hundred," Ronon called. John gave him thumbs up and jogged for the gate.

* * *

Elizabeth stood in the doorway of the stone dining hall as the doubles of her and her team ate lunch with Edith, Kennyth and Minhe. She wasn't less happy to see them as last night, but something seemed off with her double and the others gave the impression they either didn't notice (which was unlikely) or they knew it too. 

She heard footsteps behind her and turned to greet the newcomer, "Tometh, good afternoon,"

Tometh smiled at her and Elizabeth sighed internally. "Mid morning to you Elizabeth; are you not hungry? Do you want to get something else to eat with me?"

Elizabeth watched, amused, as a red tinge came to the boy's cheeks. She decided to end his misery. "No, thank you, Tometh, I was just going in."

Tometh looked away but looked back quickly, "Alright, Elizabeth, enjoy your meal."

He began walking away. "_Wait_!" Elizabeth called.

She felt guilt in her chest and gestured to the dining hall, "Why don't you eat with us?"

Tometh's face lit up and rushed forward to grab her head. His was sweaty and already almost bigger than hers and Elizabeth let him have his moment, knowing she might be leaving soon.

"Thank you,"

* * *

By nightfall, all the settlement people had been transferred to Atlantis and another team plus Dr. Keller sent to Terradyn. 

The newly assembled group sat around the fire pit with Formay, his sister, Freha and a few others John didn't know yet.

"Now, you have many questions for us. Before we begin, there are some questions we need to ask you first," Freha began.

Among the team sent to Terradyn was a man who seemed adept at diplomacy. "Of course," he said.

"John Sheppard and Rodney McKay have told us that you attempted to destroy these, replicators, and that this new evidence suggests it didn't work. The replicators in the city aren't behaving like the ones from the sky or the ones you've told us about,"

"What are some differences?" the man, Major Younge, asked.

"These are lead by two, they are a relatively small group, they do not destroy the city and yet do not leave."

Younge thought this through, but John answered faster. "Who are they lead by?"

He didn't know how she seemed to know so much, but decided to ask later as everything she was saying was more or less making sense.

"A man and a woman; they are close, personally, I believe. The others respect them and listen to them. They are equals, but these two seem to have a greater respect commanded by them."

"Can you describe them?" Rodney asked on a hunch.

"The male is headstrong, stubborn; he is happy to find the city, but eager to leave as well. The female is headstrong too, though she seems different than the others, almost like she is an imposter,"

This wasn't sounding so hot to John.

"A replicator imposter; pretending to be a replicator?"

Rodney took a huge leap, "What if it's not an imposter like you're thinking?"

"English please," John said, looking across the fire at the scientist.

"Elizabeth."

There was silence around the fire.

"_What_?" John almost whispered.

Rodney avoided his eyes, "What if our doubles survived that little party trick we played on the replicators on that planet? What if they were here? With the doubled Elizabeth, who's the only one of them who's the only, her, in the galaxy?"

"You think the double seems different because she knows she's the only one, which is affecting her behavior?" Younge tried to puzzle it out, forgetting about the Terradyn people listening to them in silence.

"It's a huge leap but the probe, the leaders; they must be the doubled John and Elizabeth." Rodney seemed to like this theory as he began thinking faster than he could talk.

"Wait, wait, wait; if these replicators were them, wouldn't they at least try to contact us first?" John asked, still stuck on the fact that Elizabeth, even if she wasn't necessarily his Elizabeth, could be alive and on the same planet as them.

"How would they? We aren't on the same planet as before and after hearing about your plan on that planet, I doubt any radios survived," Jennifer pointed out from her place next to Ronon.

"Excuse us, who are you referring to?" Freha interjected smoothly before Rodney could start speaking again.

John sighed. "This is going to be a _very_ long night."

* * *

haha, and so it begins. so, to me it reads a little rough, kind of rushed, but that's just how excited i was to get this out. 

plz review! it keeps me going!

thanks!!!


	5. Chapter 5

OKAY! so it's been like, a week since my last update and I'M SO VERY SORRY :) but, real life intrudes on fantasy every now and then...but i'm beating it back as much as possible.

**sparklyshimmer2012 - **dont worry, rodney was just guessing, but you know him and his theories...usually right, right?

**jenne (novaleebird) - **lol yeah, glad u still like it! here's an update, finally!

**lakewater - **lol, chaucer, here's some more!

**Charmed225 - **sorry for the wait!

**saphiretwin369 - **no worries, im getting confused myself sometimes :) it'll get simpler, glad u like it!

**thanks to everyone who reviewed! dont forget to keep it up! you rock.**

enjoy!

**

* * *

**

**Home to Me**

* * *

It was raining. **Hard**. John and his team of Rodney, Ronon, Jennifer, Formay and his sister were hiking through the forest once more, this time being drenched by torrential rain.

Rodney had stopped moaning and groaning about half an hour ago and Ronon and Jennifer fell further and further behind as Ronon helped the doctor over the wet terrain.

Formay and his sister, Edyn, were a few paces ahead of John and he quickened his pace to catch up, almost losing his footing in the dark downpour.

"How much farther until the city gates?" he asked when he finally caught up.

"Not much longer, if you look hard, you can see the tower through the trees,"

John squinted into the inky darkness before turning his little flashlight on the other man.

"Sure,"

"John Sheppard, do you believe that the woman in the city is the one you thought you'd lost?"

Maybe it's not the imposters you're thinking about.

"It's a possibility, a very farfetched possibility, but still," John emphasized his words as Rodney followed behind them. He could practically hear the scientist roll his eyes.

"Oh, come on, you know there's a very good possibility that I'm right. I'm usually right."

"Eventually," Ronon called from the back of the group. Rodney stumbled; he didn't think that the Satedan had been listening.

"Yes, well, this is different,"

John didn't press the issue further, remembering how sensitive Rodney was on the subject of Elizabeth's disappearance and Carson's death.

"Right, we're almost there; try to stay quiet this time, alright Rodney?" John felt himself smirk as Rodney huffed behind him.

They finally came to a stop at the gates they had gone through before. It was rusted slightly in the rain.

Formay frowned. "We cannot open these gates without alerting the wrong people to our presence. We will have to go over,"

John heard a low moan from the back of the group and chuckled inwardly at the realization it was Keller.

"I'm really not good at all this physical stuff, you know it's actually a miracle I got through that forest at all; last time I came off world I sprained my ankle and I don-,"

"You'll be fine," Ronon interrupted, moving to the front of the group. He hoisted himself up with a foothold from Formay and rolled himself over the top of the gates.

He disappeared over the top and the others waited in silence. A muffled 'okay' shifted the group into quiet action.

Formay cradled his hands together again and Rodney was pushed and pulled over the gate, protesting mutedly the whole way. A slight thud signaled his landing.

Edyn went next, neatly rolling over the top as Ronon had. She slid down the other side and moved to wait next to Rodney.

Jennifer eyed the men in front of her, trying to figure out a way to get out of this. "This is not a good idea, maybe I could just, you know, wait here?"

John smirked and heaved himself up to the top of the gate and sat straddling the barrier.

Formay turned to face the doctor, also smirking, and cupped his hands.

"You are next, Dr. Keller,"

Jennifer licked her lips, looking around. At least it was dark; maybe they wouldn't see her make a complete fool of herself.

Jennifer took a deep breath and pulled herself up onto the gate. She slid over the top and fell into Ronon who steadied her.

She blew hair out of her face, "That wasn't so bad,"

Ronon smirked, "Speak for yourself, I got an elbow to the stomach," he whispered.

John held out a hand and Formay hauled himself up and over before John jumped off as well. With the group successfully over the wall, they put their plan into action, taking off into the pouring rain.

* * *

Elizabeth watched the rain fall from the sky, the moon making each rain drop sparkle as it drifted down to the earth. The smells from the forest being drenched in rain wafted through her open window and for a moment shecould pretend she was back on earth; or at least on the mainland during one of the few times she'd been there from Atlantis.

She sighed; the day had been normal, almost too much so. The doubles of her family from Atlantis were exploring, looking around the city. Edith seemed to steer clear of Elizabeth's double, but that was expected; the resemblance was perfect and very unsettling.

Something bothered her about her clone, though, something that maybe Edith had picked up on as well. Just seeing the other, her, made something twist in her gut, made her feel as if something bad was about to happen.

Elizabeth pushed her worry aside and watched the rain again; when she turned her head just right, she could see a kind of shimmering rainbow in the raindrops, arching across the city. She smiled and held her hand out; the rain was warm, tickling her skin as it rolled off her fingers or over her wrist, down her arm.

She could already smell the after-the-rain scent she'd always loved so much. Elizabeth leaned against the window frame, letting the cool breeze and the warm rain fill her senses.

What she didn't notice was the shadows under her door, the light footsteps almost pacing on the other side. Her worries weren't unfounded. Something wasn't right.

* * *

_"I have a contact, in the city; one who will allow us shelter even though it's not the white season. She will let us in her home so we can move about easier. She lives on the outer edge of the city, in a small house. We should get there around dawn."_

"Are we there ye-,"

"McKay, **shut up**." John was growing tired of Rodney's grating question.

"We have arrived," Formay answered, motioning to a small house across an alley way.

The house was small, cozy looking, with a beautiful garden out front and a path winding around to the back. They followed the stone path around the side of the house. A figure stood waiting in the fenced in yard.

"Formay? That you?"

The voice was light, lowered for secrecy, but not overly concerned about being over heard. They'd made it into the city undetected.

"It's us, Dalia." Formay moved closer to the figure and a dim light switched on inside the house.

"Come inside, boy, before you catch your death in the rain and drag my daughter with you,"

It was an old man's teasing voice. The group hurried inside and was herded down under the main floor into a larger space.

"John Sheppard; Dalia Krow and her father, Hoy."

The team was introduced and Edyn was greeted with a warm hug.

"Another mission into the city before your time, eh boy?" Hoy joked, passing around a tray with mugs of warm water and what looked like a cross between a strawberry and a grape.

"Of course, Hoy; this is a mission from Freha, about the new arrivals in the city. Have you seen them?"

The old man thought hard, his papery skin crinkling around dark eyes. "I've seen them, one looks like that one there,"

Hoy was pointing at John.

"I knew it!" Rodney's muffled triumphant exclamation came from across the room, his mouth full of food.

"Who else was with them?" Edyn asked, settling on the floor with Dalia.

"Another two men and two women; one fair skinned, one darker, like us," he gestured to himself and Dalia, who were lightly golden skinned, "the men looked like those two,"

Rodney and Ronon looked at each other.

"Then I was right," Rodney spoke, this time after swallowing his bite. He took a long drink of water before continuing. "It is our doubles."

"Doubles?" Dalia asked from the ground. She turned to look at Rodney. "That explains much; you look like the three men, and one of the women looks like one in the city already."

Rodney choked on his strawberry-grape. "_What_?" he gasped out.

"Woman in the city?" John askedcarefully, leaning forward to listen.

Dalia sensed the mounting tension and chose her words slowly, "Yes, one of the women that came through the gate looks like the woman who fell from the sky a while ago,"

"I think she means Dr. Weir." Jennifer said in a half-daze. Ronon looked over at her while John stood and crossed to the other side of the room to Rodney.

"I thought you said the other replicator told you she was dead," he said, almost scaring Rodney with his intensity.

"She did! I mean, they lie, but she didn't have any reason to!" Rodney shrank back a fraction and looked into his cup, avoiding John's eyes.

"I'll be outside." He was already half way up the stairs when Formay called to him.

"Stay inside the yard; don't wander away!"

John turned to wave his agreement, offhandedly noticing the lightening sky. Dawn had arrived to signal a new day; this was certainly going to be a trying one.

* * *

Edith watched the young woman she'd grown to love as her own daughter laugh with the double of her friend Rodney McKay; it was early, the sky was just beginning to go blue with morning and the two were sitting on the steps of the tower, catching up it seemed.

From her place inside the doorway, conversation wafted to her, "So we were kind of disintegrated into the little replicator bits, but oh, the best part; they took us with them!"

Elizabeth hung onto every word, smiling to whole time, "_No_,"

"Yeah! They scooped us up and brought us back to their ship, for proof I guess, but then this kind of rebel replicator, I think he was kind of screwy, you know, _loose connection_ and all that," Elizabeth laughed and Rodney smiled wider before going on.

"He reassembled us somehow and we escaped and we're pretty sure he was killed, but hey, replicator, not really caring what happened to him!"

Rodney shook his head and looked at Elizabeth, "Talk about lucky huh?"

Elizabeth nodded her head in agreement and pushed hair back from her face. "Very lucky; don't you agree, Edith?"

Edith grinned to herself and stepped from the shadows to join the pair. "I agree wholeheartedly, my sweet. Are you two ready for your morning meal?

Elizabeth stood and pulled Rodney up with her, "If there's anything I remember the most about Rodney it's that he's always hungry."

The doubled Rodney grinned in agreement and let Elizabeth lead him inside. "True, true; but it's not my fault, you know if I don't eat I get all-,"

"-hypoglycemic, I know Rodney." Elizabeth answered as the three went back inside the tower to find some food.

* * *

John sat in the grass as the rising sun warmed his body; he'd been out there a while. He was sure the others had hammered out the bumps in their plan by now and had constructed one that would actually work.

As the sky lightened to the familiar pale blue, he let his thoughts wander off. Would Elizabeth, his Elizabeth, really be alive? And here? What were the odds?

John sighed. He really needed to stop calling her 'his Elizabeth'; he knew she'd kick him for it. Or at least raise the eyebrow. John smiled at the thought.

"Sheppard?" Ronon's voice drifted from the house and John stood to brush the grass from his uniform.

"Out here," he called back, careful not to call too much attention to himself. John had heard others around the house waking, neighbors talking and leaving for whatever it was they did during the day.

Ronon appeared at the door, "We're getting some new clothes to wear, to fit in or whatever,"

John nodded, "Alright," they headed back inside and down the steps into the large basement. Most of the team had already changed; Rodney and Jennifer were picking self-consciously at their clothes.

"The plan is to mingle at the party tonight; apparently they're throwing a party to officially welcome us to Terradyn," Rodney explained, picking at the knees of his pants.

"Sounds good,"

Dalia came bounding down the stairs, excitement bubbling over her pretty features. "I've seen him before, but now to know there are two; it was very exciting." she said in a rush.

"Who?" Formay asked from his place lying off to one side on his sleeping mat.

"Dr. McKay; he was sitting on the steps this morning by himself. I was going to talk to him but the door opened and another was coming out."

"Huh," Rodney mused, finding his mug of water again and his plate of little grapeberries.

John felt a rush of excitement and trepidation; he wanted to find Elizabeth now.

"So, how long until this party?" he asked.

"A few hours. We're going to wait here until it gets closer to dinner," Jennifer answered, pulling her hair up the way Dalia and Edyn had theirs; she failed miserably and the other women went to help her, laughing lightly.

"Great, an afternoon cooped up with Rodney and Ronon," John muttered, but Rodney heard him.

Rodney huffed. "Hey, I'm not that annoying; and besides, I think lover boy will be plenty busy," he gestured to Ronon and Jennifer; Ronon smirked as Jennifer pulled at the hair style, sending a few strays falling into her face. Ronon moved to push them away but stopped; Jennifer blushed and the two looked away.

"Oh, excellent," John mumbled again, moving away from the group to talk to Formay.

"Since my double is here, and I could easily blend in with my clothes now, I'm going to take a walk." He couldn't stay in one place all day; all he could think about was finding Elizabeth.

Formay saw the near desperation in the other man's eyes and nodded slowly, "You must be careful to avoid anyone who might recognize you; stay towards the edge of the city. Be careful,"

John nodded and headed outside again, spirits lifted a bit. He left the house by the little path in the back and struck out along the outer edge of the city.

* * *

10 minutes into his walk, he'd stumbled upon the main gates in and out of the city, having walked along the outside. The city seemed smaller during the dayand in the light.

He stayed out of sight in the shadows as a single figure passed by, walking through the gates to the forest. The person looked up into the sky as they passed, giving John a view of their face.

A cascade of waving brown hair, a flash of green eyes, flushes of pale skin, hint of a smile.

He nearly fell over. There was _his Elizabeth_. **2 feet from him**. And even though he wanted nothing more than to run to her and pull her to him and make sure she was real and not a copy, he couldn't move. He was frozen.

Elizabeth walked on, oblivious, through the gates and into the light green maze of the forest.

And John couldn't follow.

* * *

it hurt to write them so close, and yet, so far apart...

SOON my friends, soon!

please please please review! it really makes my day!

thnkz!!


	6. Chapter 6

hey people out there reading! omgoodness it's another update! i know, so few and far between these days...but what can you do, right?

so, i caved a little in this chapter, just for you guys, but you better write some pretty rockin' reviews for it! lol im kidding, you write rockin' reviews already :)

**Jennifer xo - **im updating, im updating!

**sparklyshimmer2010 - **glad you like it! lol

**saphiretwin369 - **thanks for the review, here's the next bit!

**Savertin - **so close yet so far? maybe closer in this chapter...?

**Charmed225 - **here's the next part! have fun!

enjoy guys!

**

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Home to Me

* * *

Rodney's face was screwed up in intense scrutiny of the puzzle before him. The paper was a mess of lines and squiggles and little circles and squares.

"There," he pointed confidently, smirking satisfactorily up at Formay and Edyn. His confidence wavered as Edyn grinned and Formay sighed in amusement.

"No, doctor, we are here," Formay pointed to a little square on the opposite side of the map of the city from where Rodney was pointing.

"What? No way, then where am I pointing?" Rodney asked, leaning forward again. Jennifer looked over his shoulder as she passed.

"That would be the second gated entrance, between the gate we climbed over to get here and the main ones."

Ronon laughed as Rodney huffed impatiently. Jennifer continued her path and sat next to Ronon again, popping open her first aid kit to check all the supplies.

"Fine, at least I know where we're going, that's this big circle here right?" Rodney jabbed his finger at a large circle a little off centre of the middle of the city.

Edyn laughed next to him, snorting into her water. Ronon leaned forward from his seat and glanced at where Rodney was gesturing.

"Uh, no; that would be the big area we're **not supposed to go** because there'll be tons of people," he said, taking great amusement from Rodney's frustrated groan.

"Stupid map; I can read any other map, except yours!" he exclaimed, shoving the paper away from him.

Formay raised an eyebrow and smirked, folding up his map and settling back on his arms. "Really, then why could you read the map leading you to the city when you first arrived?"

Rodney looked over at him suspiciously, "What?"

"When you and Ronon and John Sheppard first came here to the city to look around; we gave you a map as well. You read that correctly, yes?"

"Yeah," Rodney answered slowly, not catching on.

"I drew that one as well. If you cannot read this one, you could not have read the other," Formay finished, smiling in satisfaction as Rodney turned red in the face.

"Okay, so I can't read maps as well as you or Sheppard! I'd like to see you try to read my notes on Naquadah generators!"

"But I have no need to; these maps, however, are significant for tonight,"

Rodney was silenced and he glared silently at the wall as the rest of the room laughed at him.

* * *

_Elizabeth walked on, oblivious, through the gates and into the light green maze of the forest._

_And John couldn't follow._

Elizabeth wandered through the forest, watching the light scatter on the trees, finding her way to her clearing by the cliff. Hearing the running water of the river below, she stopped and looked straight up at the canopy of trees overhead. The air was cool, the sun warm, and the grass fresh and green; it was perfect and quiet and just what she wanted.

She'd left after breakfast, claiming to need a walk, when really she needed to think without being bothered.

Elizabeth moved into her clearing and lay down on the grass, closing her eyes and soaking up the sun. Her mind wandered to the meal she'd just eaten; she was beginning to feel like the doubles really could be her team, but there was still something off about her own double.

If she'd been the double and was spending time with herself, she'd be a little off too; but this was different. Every time Elizabeth would look up, her double would be watching her from the corner of her eye, glancing away when caught. The look in the double's eye was different as well, almost secretive and mysterious. What was she hiding?

A rustle in the bushes caught her attention. She stayed perfectly still and listened for any other sound, hoping her double hadn't followed her.

Another rustle and some a footstep; a branch cracking under someone's weight. Elizabeth shifted and looked up at the intruder.

"John,"

He was wearing different clothes from that morning. He looked a little surprised to see her. Elizabeth smiled lightly, sitting up.

"What's wrong?"

John stood at the edge of the clearing, frozen once more. He had decided to disregard Formay's caution and his own instincts, screaming at him to turn back, and followed Elizabeth. He'd slipped out the gates after her, before anyone could see him.

"John?" Elizabeth frowned slightly and stood up fully.

John looked her up and down, almost not believing this was _his Elizabeth_; the sun glinted off her long, brown hair and lit up her skin, making it glow. Her eyes were green and gorgeous, watching him with curiosity. He must look like an idiot.

"Your hair's longer," he said stupidly, still not able to move an inch.

Elizabeth smirked slightly, taking a step closer. "Since you saw me at breakfast? Not by much,"

John felt realization fall over him like a dark cloud; she thought he was the double. He shook his head and mentally shook the rest of himself as well.

"No, I mean, it's me. John. The **real** John," he almost whispered, watching her face for any signs of recognition.

Elizabeth frowned and moved her head to one side, "What are you _talking_ about?"

"Elizabeth, it's me; John Sheppard." John felt himself begin to panic again. Why wouldn't she believe him?

"John this isn't funny, stop it." Elizabeth looked at him straight on, frown firmly in place.

"I'm not kidding, I just-," he stopped, cutting himself off. Without thinking, he crossed to her in 3 steps and pulled her into a crushing hug, squeezing her against him tightly.

Elizabeth felt the air rush from her lungs as she was crushed against John's body. She hadn't really touched any of the doubles since their arrival; they were almost always cold, or at least cool to the touch. This John was warm and solid and squeezing her a little too tight.

"I can't breathe," she managed to whisper, wiggling her arms from her sides where they were pinned, to between her body and his. She pushed lightly and John released her, not moving back though.

"Elizabeth, **Lizzie**, this is me; not the double, _me_." John looked her in the eye, arms still resting on her shoulders and watched as she traced his features, taking him in again. He noticed immediately when she took in the healing cut on his cheek by his ear where Ronon had clipped him in training.

Elizabeth reached up and touched the healing cut that hadn't been there before; it looked a couple days old. She felt her fingers begin to tremble and her stomach tighten; had he really, _finally_ found her?

"John?" she whispered again, fingers still on his face.

"Yeah,"

Elizabeth threw both arms around him and squeezed, feeling his rumble of a chuckle as he pulled her closer again. Her body melted into his and she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes.

"I didn't think you'd ever find me." She mumbled into his shoulder, squeezing tighter and holding back her tears.

"We didn't know where to start looking; we thought you were dead." John rubbed one hand up and down her back, smoothing her hair, the other tight around her waist.

Elizabeth just squeezed tighter, happy beyond belief that her John had finally found her.

They didn't know how long they stayed like that and they didn't care; they stood in the clearing, warmed by the sun and each other, hugging each other tight.

Finally, John pulled back. Elizabeth's hands slid down his arms to grip his fingers. He didn't mind, he wasn't planning on letting go either.

"Are the others here too?" Elizabeth asked eagerly, searching his face.

John grinned full out, reaching up to smooth runaway strands of hair behind her ears. He held her face in both hands. "Yeah, the others are here, except Teyla though,"

Elizabeth felt a stab of panic, "Why, what happened? Is she alright?"

John grinned, "Oh, she's more than alright; any week now she's going to pop. She's having a baby,"

Elizabeth's face lit up, "A baby? Really?"

"An Athosian guy, she's really nervous,"

Elizabeth couldn't help herself and pulled him in for another hug, burying her face in his neck. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"We are, I am; how's it been here? You okay?"

"No, I missed you, all of you, so much, all the time; it was so hard."

"What about your nanites?" John asked, suddenly aware of the problem they'd had in the first place. He had begun to pull back.

"No, don't let go." Elizabeth said, squeezing tighter around his shoulders. "They're gone; these people took them out."

_"You took the nanites out of me?" Elizabeth gasped out, looking down at her hands as if they held the answers._

_Edith smiled thinly, "Yes, though you almost died doing it; apparently, they were the only things keeping you alive. This we found the difficult way,"_

John felt himself smirk and pull back, only to immediately pull her into a searing kiss, tasting her lips and smoothing his hands along her cheeks. The kiss was desperate and happy and one that curled her toes and made her blush.

He released her and watched as her eyes finally opened, lips still parted. "What was that for?" she asked breathlessly.

"Finding you alive and well,"

Elizabeth smiled. "Really?"

John smirked and lowered his lips to her smiling ones, this time slowly, sweetly, deepening the kiss enough to make her melt slightly.

"And that?" she asked after she regained conscious thought.

John pulled her into a hug again. "That was because I missed you; you've been gone a long time."

Elizabeth smiled sadly into his shoulder and closed her eyes to enjoy him again.

* * *

"I think Sheppard's been kidnapped." Rodney stated as he hunched over another electronic device. He'd already pulled apart and reassembled several of his own as well as a few of Formay's.

"Why would you say that?" Edyn asked, rocking back on her heels. Dalia and Hoy were gone for the day, leaving the younger girl with the rest of the adults. To say she was bored was an understatement.

"He's been gone for almost an hour and a half?" Rodney responded, annoyed; to say he and Edyn didn't quite get along was also an understatement.

"He'll return soon; he knows that we have to leave shortly," Formay said, looking up from his map.

As if on cue, John descended the stairs, smiling at the group. Rodney immediately frowned in suspicion.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, standing to observe the happy colonel.

"Nothing, Rodney; good walk." John answered. He moved over to his pack and pulled out an energy bar, peeling it open and taking a good sized bite.

"Did you change your clothes?" Jennifer asked from her seat. She frowned slightly; she could have sworn they'd all had similar simple, tan and green outfits. John's was now brown and white.

John looked up, mouth full. He swallowed and smiled quickly before answering, "Yeah, these were more comfortable."

Jennifer seemed to accept this and turned back to her drawing; she'd been outlining the map of the city for a while now, attempting to memorize every inch in case she got lost.

Ronon, however, eyed John carefully, though he kept his mouth shut. The other man was different, more awake almost. What had happened to him on his walk? Had he run into someone and escaped, gotten his blood pumping?

Rodney shrugged and turned back to his device, tweaking another circuit. "You should probably start memorizing that map; took me forever. If it took me as long as it did, I don't want to hazard a guess at how long it'll take you."

John frowned in Rodney's general direction. "Thanks, Rodney, but I already memorized it."

Rodney didn't respond, though there was a long, dramatic sigh from the genius doctor. "Of course," he mumbled under his breath.

The group went back to whatever they were doing and John smiled slightly before moving to the back of the room. Edyn watched him as he leaned against the far wall and just seemed to observe them, staring into nothingness. She shivered slightly before turning back to Formay.

* * *

oooh. now we're getting into it, eh? lol as always, PLZ REVIEW you've been doing a wickedly awesome job already, keep it up!

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	7. Chapter 7

okay guys, here the next part! i'm excited about this one, so i hope you enjoy it!

**saphiretwin369** - glad i could make you squee! ) enjoy the next bit!

**Jennifer xo - **lol, thanks, here's the next part!

**sparklyshimmer2010 - **lol im glad you're so excited! answers are coming soon, i swear!

**Charmed225 - **here's the next part, thanks for the review!

**savertin - **enjoy the next bit, you're on the right track!

thanks so much for the reviews and support guys! i love it and you rock!

enjoy!

**

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**

**Home to Me**

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* * *

**

Edith looked out into the square as the people of the city began setting up for the celebration; in the distance, she could just make out the doubles and Tometh talking and playing with the different people that passed them. Something in her gut held her back from joining their acceptance.

Kennyth came up behind her, touching her shoulder. "Why are you not enjoying the day with everyone else?"

Edith sighed, but didn't turn to face him. "There is something, different, about the other Elizabeth; something wrong. And I can't find the other man, Sheppard,"

Kennyth looked across the square and pointed, "He's there, with Kinray and Bayer,"

Edith followed his finger and spotted Sheppard with the little girl and boy; the twins were delighted to hear about whatever stories he was telling them, as they were enthralled with his voice.

"He wasn't there before," Edith said, frowning slightly. Kennyth sighed to himself and squeezed her shoulder.

"I'm going to find Minhe, something isn't right," Edith turned and left for the inside of the tower where she was sure Minhe was.

Before she got far, she turned back to Kennyth. "Keep an eye out for Elizabeth? Send her to me when she returns from her walk,"

Kennyth nodded, "She's across the-,"

"**Our** Elizabeth," Edith interrupted, moving away again.

"Trouble in paradise?" Elizabeth spoke next to his ear. Kennyth jumped and started slightly before Elizabeth smiled and touched his forearm.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said, smile stretching across her face. Kennyth took a deep breath and regarded the double.

"No, Edith just has a matter to discuss to Minhe; she'll return shortly, nothing to worry about."

"She doesn't like me, does she?" The double's face slipped into a sad smile, drooping into a small pout.

Kennyth reached out a hand and squeezed the woman's hand kindly, "She's just getting used to both of you being here; she's so fond of Elizabeth,"

The double smiled slowly again, "You're right, of course; will you come and help me set up the table?"

Kennyth smiled and took the other Elizabeth's arm, "Of course, lead the way,"

They walked off together across the square, talking about the weather and the upcoming party. From the high window in the tower, Edith looked down on the scene, frowning to herself. She shook her head and turned away from the window.

* * *

"Come back with me," John said. He'd just finished explaining everything and was trying to convince Elizabeth to come back with him. 

"I can't, these people will come looking for me if I just disappear from the forest."

John looked at her through slightly desperate eyes. They sat in the shade of the clearing, catching up and keeping close.

"We'll get you back before they notice you're not out for a nice little walk in the woods," John offered, already standing and pulling her up with him. Elizabeth bit her lip and her brow pulled together into an entirely new look John didn't ever want to see again.

"What is it?" The look of pure worry and fear mixed with confusion was enough to almost literally knock him back a step.

"My double, there's something _off_ about her, I don't know what it is, or even if I'm making it all up. She worries me, John. She seems, **different**, from the others,"

John listened as she spoke, her eyes off down the path back to the gates into the city. He looked over her twisted up face and felt his resolve crumble a little.

"You don't want to leave her alone too long,"

"It doesn't make sense, considering I couldn't stop her if she was going to do something, but I don't want to not be there in case something goes bad,"

John bit his own lip and looked from her face to the pathway and back again. "Why don't we go and see everyone before you head back. Boost morale and all that?"

Elizabeth looked back at him. She released her lip and a small smile crept its way across her face.

"Okay, let's go,"

John grasped her hand and pulled her along quickly behind him, heading around the back where he and the rest of the group had entered the night before.

Together they stumbled across branches and stones, cursing a few times as they tripped over something in their haste to get back to Hoy's home. They arrived at the little gate and quickly slipped inside, sneaking around to the back door of the house.

John stopped as he saw the door. Elizabeth kept going before their joined hands pulled her back. She looked up at him quizzically.

"What? Aren't we going inside?" She watched his face go from excited to worry quickly.

John looked from her flushed face to the slightly open door, suspicion and worry creeping along his spine. The sun beat down on them, but his fingers and toes were cold with apprehension.

"That door wasn't open when I left," he said lowly, keeping his voice down.

"Maybe someone went in and out after you left, let's go," she moved forward again, but this time John followed and pulled her to his side, stopping against the wall next to the door.

"That's what I'm worried about; we've been so careful since we got here. No one would leave this door open."

A loud bang followed by a low thud and moan had John tensed and Elizabeth peering into the bright house. John inched forward, feeling naked without his gun. He'd left it inside with his uniform.

They slowly entered the house, their eyes adjusting to the difference in light. The room was trashed, chairs on their sides, bowl and cups broken and scattered around the kitchen. The cupboards attached at knee level to the walls were smoking slightly, large holes seemingly blasted through them.

"John," Elizabeth whispered, grasping his arm and gesturing down the hall. There was a trail of silver liquid leading out the front door.

John felt himself clenching and they moved towards the basement steps. As they descended, they noted the silence.

The sight that greeted them spurred them into greater action. The first person they saw was Jennifer, slumped unconscious against the wall immediately in front of the stairs. Her wrists were wrapped in what looked like a thick, black plastic tie. The skin was already red around the binding.

Elizabeth stooped to untie her, trying to nudge her awake as she pulled at the knots. "Dr. Keller, wake up. Can you hear me?"

John could hear only Elizabeth's whispered words behind him. The rest of the house was silent. In the corner was Formay, awake but groggy, and gagged; what remained of a wooden stand lay at his feet. It accounted for the noise they'd heard earlier.

"What happened here?" John asked hurriedly as he pulled the gag from the other man's mouth. Formay took a gulp of air and coughed once as John began on the ropes.

"You **attacked** us," he spat out, deciding whether to rush the man or let him finish untying him.

"What?" John asked, momentarily pausing in his rescue attempt.

"Your **double**, John, _your double_!" Elizabeth said from across the room, helping a groaning Jennifer Keller to her feet.

"I feel like I got his by a train," she mumbled out, leaning against Elizabeth, not even realizing who she was.

"He took my sister, and Rodney McKay and Ronon Dex," Formay said, believing John to be the real one. The clothes were different and the Colonel had continued working on the knots.

"Why?" John muttered to himself.

"Rodney works technology, Ronon would have put up a fight and Edyn is leverage," Elizabeth said, paling. Jennifer shook her head against Elizabeth's shoulder.

"The replicators are probably better at figuring out technology than Rodney…" Jennifer shook her head and supported herself. Elizabeth released the woman. "Wait a minute,"

Elizabeth looked at her. "You're **alive**! Or are you the double?" Jennifer leaned close, as if it would help distinguish.

"It's me Dr. Keller,"

Jennifer threw her arms around Elizabeth, who smiled tightly. "I'm _so_ glad you're alive."

Elizabeth squeezed the woman's shoulders and they parted. Jennifer swayed a little and Elizabeth grabbed her arms again.

"Keller's right, the replicators wouldn't need Rodney to work some machines,"

"Either way, they are in danger now. One was injured when Ronon Dex fought back, by the gun blast. The fight traveled up the stairs after another woman came down and subdued us."

John thought this through, "Another woman? Not Elizabeth?" Formay shook his head, rubbing his red wrists as John released the rope.

The two stood and John felt the proverbial light bulb turn on, "The Teyla double,"

Elizabeth looked around the room, "They caused a lot of damage, at least they put up a fight,"

"That might not be a good thing," John said, cursing under his breath.

* * *

Freha paced back and forth in her room in the settlement; something was wrong. Formay was supposed to have checked in by now. She looked out the window and watched the clouds drift across the sky, birds chasing them and swooping for food occasionally. 

'They should have returned by now,' she thought to herself, resuming her pacing. The fabric across her door frame swished as a messenger brushed into the room, out of breath presumably from running across the settlement.

"Freha, there's been a transmission on the communication line; trouble in the city. It is more significant than we thought."

Freha felt weary but moved toward the young woman anyway. They left the room to the communication building across the settlement.

"How long ago,"

"Not long, a few minutes; it was the city elder, Minhe. She says she has news for you,"

Freha stopped and the messenger continued a few paces before turning to look at the elder.

"Minhe contacted us herself? You're sure,"

"She identified herself and it sounds like her; if you follow me," The messenger tried to get Freha moving again, successfully.

Freha moved with more speed than she thought capable towards the communication line, the messenger following now, hastening her steps to keep up with the old woman.

* * *

"Who's Freha?" Edith asked as Minhe held the communication device to her ear, waiting for the settlement on the other side to respond. 

"She's the elder of Grayth, the settlement by the other stone ring."

Edith's eyes widened, "There's _another_ ring?"

"There's not much time, Edith, there are two rings on this planet. Freha is the guardian of the other, I the one in this city."

"_Guardian_?"

At that moment, Minhe held up a hand as she listened to the other person. "Freha, one of my people has reason to believe the new visitors are not as they appear,"

Edith shifted from foot to foot. She didn't really have a _reason_, just a **feeling**. Granted her feelings were usually more reliable than others…

"I have not observed them enough to gather the same conclusion as she, but I trust her. There is trouble brewing here,"

There was a stretch of silence and Edith could make out a small voice on the device, but no words. Her arm itched. She refused to scratch.

"It will be done," Minhe finally answered, ending the connection and setting down the device. She turned to Edith.

"Where are the visitors?"

* * *

"So, we need a new plan. Now," John said as he, Elizabeth, Formay and Jennifer stood in the basement amid the chaos of the attack. 

"Obviously we must retrieve your team," Formay started. "As to how, I do not know,"

"What if we went ahead with the plan we had before? I mean, there's still four of us, and despite the fact that I'm terrified of taking one of your spots in said plan, I think desperate times call for desperate measures."

"We were going to use four for the original goal; there are four of us now." Formay pointed out. Elizabeth looked around the small group.

She hated to admit it, but the odds weren't good. Two of them didn't know their way around the city as well as they thought; three of them were strangers to the planet, two of them civilian and in no way fighters. The plan didn't seem too successful so far.

She got an idea. "I have a different approach in mind…"

The group pulled together over an errant sheet of paper as Elizabeth found a pen from the floor and began scribbling out her plan.

"Let's do it," John said after a moment of explaination and review. He moved toward his pack.

"Okay, Formay, do you remember exactly what the other John was wearing?" Jennifer asked as the two of them moved off.

Elizabeth took a breath and wandered over to John, "Tell me this is going to work," she told him.

He looked up at her, a smirk on his face, "Of course it will,"

She smiled back.

* * *

"Oh, **ow**, God, what the hell happened?" Rodney pulled himself into the real world with a wince of pain. 

_"John Sheppard isn't acting as before," Edyn whispered to Jennifer. Jennifer looked up at John discreetly; he was leaning against the wall, watching the group, occasionally offering a comment or small talk._

Ronon looked over at Rodney, still seething. "We were **captured**, McKay,"

_Ronon looked up as John pulled out a beeping device. The colonel pressed a button, stashed it in a hidden pocket. He moved towards them. "What's that?"_

_John shook his head, "Don't worry about it. Dr. Keller, can I ask you something?"_

_Jennifer stood to talk to him and was thrown by the front of her shirt against the opposite wall. Before Ronon could lunge for his gun, the Teyla double was down the stairs and pushing Formay with unexpected strength into the wall. He slid down, out cold._

_Ronon finally gripped his gun in his fingers; McKay was on the ground, holding his head, Edyn was in Teyla's grasp._

_"Put her down." Ronon ordered, holding up his pistol._

"Well that sucks; who else has a major headache?"

"Rodney, only the three of us are here; my brother and Dr. Keller are not here," Edyn pointed out, anger and frustration bubbling beneath her voice. Her cheek sported a growing bruise.

_John grasped Rodney and hauled him up the stairs, calling over his shoulder, "Can you handle this?"_

_"Of course," Teyla answered, squeezing Edyn's throat._

_John darted up the stairs, dragging Rodney behind him. "Put down your weapon,"_

_"Put down the girl."_

_Teyla pushed Edyn to the ground and kicked up a piece of the broken table. It flew into the path of Ronon's vision and she grabbed Edyn and ran._

_Ronon sprinted up the stairs after Teyla and fired off a few shots, destroying the kitchen. As he got to the front door, a trail of silver sprouted from Teyla's healing leg, Edyn over her shoulder. He raised his gun._

"That sucks even more." Rodney groaned. He felt his wrists chaffing as he wiggled them against his bindings.

"I wouldn't do that; it'll only make them tighter," Ronon called from his side of the small room.

"How exactly did you get captured? I thought you were the hot-shot warrior?"

_Two quick shots of some kind of electrical current and Ronon could feel himself falling, unable to control his body. He remained awake, but his limbs refused to co operate._

_The doubles stepped around him and the debris and walked out the front door, Edyn and Rodney in tow. John turned and looked at him, smirking, before pulling the door shut._

"We need to get out of here," Edyn said, working her bindings as well. Ronon agreed and said so. Rodney continued rousing himself, shaking off the concussion.

"Right. Plan, anyone?"

* * *

Kennyth sat next to the double Elizabeth; she was showing him a small device she'd pulled from a pocket somewhere. He looked on with interest. 

In front of them, Teyla and Rodney sat stringing together lights while Ronon and John worked on repairing a table leg.

In unison, the group looked towards them and Kennyth could feel the pairs of eyes on his face. Without warning, a jolt passed through his body and he slumped forward, paralyzed, but awake.

"Put him with the others," Came Elizabeth's voice from above him. Kennyth looked up.

"You're too trusting for your own good old man; you should have listened to your wife,"

He was hoisted by the one called Rodney and carried across the square. He absently noted it was now empty of everyone. How had he not noticed? He felt himself being brought inside and he prayed he would not be killed.

He was dropped into a room with other strangers, the only familiar face being a young woman he'd seen during the previous white season. This didn't look good, not at all.

"Ex_cuse_ me, can I get some **water** in here," one of the men spoke up and Kennyth felt the air around him shift as the larger man suddenly rushed the double carrying him.

The brave stranger was thrown back into the room and Kennyth felt his hope collapse with his body. It was to be a dark day in the city...

* * *

DUN DUN DUN! 

lol please review!

much appreciated and have an awesome family day on monday! (i dont know if it exists where you are, but where i am, its a new gov't national holiday; feb. 18, no school or work, just quality time with your family...)

thanks guys, you rock!


	8. Chapter 8

thanks to all that reviewed the last chapter. as my fingers are tired from typing i'll type one big thank you to all;

YOU GUYS ROCK, really, you're awesome, so i dedicate this chapter to not one or two people but to all of you who are reading this, whether from the beginning or just starting now. thanks so much.

thanks to sparklyshimmer2010, savertin, saphiretwin369, charmed225 and jennidinorobot for reviewing the last chapter as well.

here's the next bit, hold onto ur mouse people; this one's a doozy...

**enjoy!

* * *

**

Home to Me

* * *

_Maybe she wasn't meant to get back._ It was a horrible, sickening and terrifying thought, but it was the only thought in John's mind as he watched her fall, almost in slow motion.

Around him, people screamed, ran in every direction. The sky was dusky, a beautiful sunset creating a crude irony; Elizabeth loved the sunsets. At least she would get to see it one last time.

Everything was muted, slow motion, numb. He couldn't feel the scratches along his face or the gash in his arm. He couldn't feel the people pushing past him or hear the gun fire exploding around him. All he could focus on was her, falling from that window, almost floating to the ground.

_Maybe she wasn't meant to get back._

And then he was running; things came crashing back to reality. Screaming, burning, pain, and he was running as fast as he could and then some to get to her as she plummeted from the tower.

There was a high grouping of bushes in the way, he couldn't see the ground below her and then she hit the earth. There was no scream of pain. Only silence from behind the foliage.

John burst through the brush, falling to his knees next to the broken form of Elizabeth Weir.

"No," he whispered to himself, reaching out and touching her neck, feeling for a pulse. "Elizabeth, you're going to be alright, you have to be alright,"

Miraculously, beneath his shaking fingers, there was a pulse, strong and regular. She was breathing, her chest rising and falling. She was sill alive. But she was unconscious.

_Maybe she wasn't meant to get back._

John moved closer, arranging her twisted limbs properly to avoid further damage. He felt hot tears welling up but he pushed them back. They wouldn't help her now.

He pulled out the small squares of gauze he kept in his vest pockets and unwrapped it, pressing it to the most severe gash on her forehead; the white gauze contrasted sharply with the deep red of her blood.

"Come on, Liz, stay with me here; dying causes way too much paperwork. Come one, wake up." Part of him wanted her to stay down, at least then she wouldn't feel the pain her body showed.

Another body crashed through the brush; it was Rodney's sweating form. He bent over Elizabeth's form as well.

"Oh God," he muttered, reaching out a hand as if to touch her before thinking better of it and pulling back.

"We need to get out of here," Rodney said slowly, in shock from seeing Elizabeth's injuries.

"McKay, hold the gauze," John instructed, pushing the shaky notes from his tone. Rodney didn't move. "Rodney, push on the **damn gauze**!"

Rodney stretched out his hands again and pushed down on the gauze. It was turned red under his fingers.

Suddenly there was a shadow over them. Both men looked up to see the Replicator Elizabeth smirking down at them.

"There's no saving her now. It would be better for you if you just left while you could still walk." Her voice was wicked and cruel, twisted amusement tinged the words.

"What do you want her for?" John questioned loudly, standing and guarding Elizabeth.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with just yet," the double smirked up at him; despite the fact she was shorter, John still felt she was very intimidating.

An explosion from over head had the replicator jerking around automatically. John pulled out the small device from his pocket and jammed his fingers against the trigger, an EM pulse swiftly destroying the replicator in front of him.

"John we have to get her to Keller!" Rodney yelled from behind him. John eyed the small pile of silvery dust before whirling around to see Rodney holding down Elizabeth's convulsing form.

"Stay here with her; I'll find Keller."

He jumped through the bush, running for Jennifer who was slumped against the fountain in the square, breathing heavily. The explosion had been his C4 going off, giving Ronon, Edyn and Formay enough time to zap the other replicators as well.

"Keller, we gotta move, Elizabeth's hurt,"

John reached out a hand almost before he'd stopped running and Jennifer's met his half way; she was more than a little winded and beyond exhausted but she let Sheppard pull her to her feet and they were running again.

Ronon, Edyn and Formay were quick behind them. By the time Formay reached the small group, the brush was trampled by hurried feet. The sky was almost completely dark, their time almost up.

"She might be bleeding internally and her head looks pretty bad; we have to get back to Atlantis."

"Rodney, go dial the gate," John ordered, kneeling beside Jennifer. The doctor stood and swayed before dropping in a dead faint. Ronon caught her and swung her up in his arms, taking off for the gate.

Rodney helped support Edyn who was sporting a large shoulder wound and nasty looking ankle. He looked over his shoulder. Formay squeezed John's shoulder before turning to Rodney.

"He will help her, we must get help," Formay ushered the two off toward the gate and John pulled Elizabeth up into his arms carefully.

He took off for the gate behind the group, not looking back once. Not noticing the small silver piles regrouping ever so slowly…

* * *

_**One hour earlier -**_

Rodney counted the stone blocks that made up the ceiling of the little prison room; the rest of the room was mostly round, hardwood floors and stone walls with no windows. The ceiling had a small device that resembled a bulb and gave off a little light. Other than that, the room was pretty much bare.

When he'd counted 193 little stone cubes, Ronon groaned awake from the side of the wall he'd been thrown into.

"Hey, he's waking up," Rodney said, moving over to the Satedan. Edyn helped Kennyth up and they shuffled closer as well.

"You awake?" Rodney helped Ronon into a more comfortable position. Ronon mumbled something before shaking his head to clear it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ronon answered gruffly. He pulled himself up.

"Good. Now, how do we escape from here?" Kennyth asked.

* * *

Formay moved quickly and silently through the empty square, placing the little blocks of C4 John had given him where they would cause the most chaos. Behind him, at the line between the houses and the street, he knew Jennifer was kneeling, waiting for his signal.

"So, we're sure this is going to work right? Now offense Dr. Weir," Jennifer picked at a cuticle as she watched Formay dart around in the growing shadows.

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at the doctor, "None taken. This will work. Be confident, everything will be fine,"

John grimaced a little as Elizabeth finished fixing his collar to hide the little scratch that exposed the difference between him and his double.

"Yeah, Keller, soon this'll all be over and then you can tell Ronon how much you li-,"

"_Colonel_!" Jennifer whipped around to face John, cheeks flaming. John smirked and Elizabeth chuckled to herself, having heard all about the budding romance from John in the clearing.

"Focus guys," Elizabeth said quietly as she turned away from John.

"Okay, go ahead colonel," Jennifer said, gesturing at Formay who was across the square and waving a little.

John gritted his teeth and looked once at Elizabeth. Everything that needed to be said passed between them.

"Go be a hero," Elizabeth whispered as he past her. He smirked over his shoulder before inching out from the shadows of the houses.

Jennifer and Elizabeth watched with breaths held as John walked confidently out into the deserted square. This part of the plan would require luck more than anything else.

As if on cue, the Rodney replicator came out of another house, carrying a young man who was out cold.

"There you are, help me with the other two in the house, would you?" Rodney said by way of greeting.

"Sure, wait up for me," John replied calmly, stalking to the house Rodney had just exited and grasping another unconscious man by the shirt and hefting him over his shoulder with as little outward strain as possible.

Together, they walked into the tower next to the one where Elizabeth had stayed when she'd first crash landed on the planet.

Formay watched from his hiding place as Rodney lead the way into the tower before looking over at the women hiding across the square. He motioned for them to hurry before ducking behind the tower.

A moment later, they joined him, out of breath from the danger of it all. He grinned at the two of them to calm their nerves and pointed up the side of the tower; a rickety looking ladder lay against the grey of the building.

Jennifer eyed it warily. "Oh no, _no heights_, I draw the line at heights. You didn't tell me there was a **freakin' ladder**!"

Formay shrugged his massive shoulders and looked at Elizabeth. She looked up the ladder and then back at Formay.

"One of us has to go up that." She said straight out.

"Yes."

"And Dr. Keller won't go,"

"Right."

Elizabeth looked up the ladder again. Logically, she knew that Formay would be better in a fight if there was a confrontation at the top. But she also knew that he was more likely to catch her if she went up and had to jump.

She took a deep breath, "Alright; hold the ladder,"

Formay gripped the sides and Elizabeth stepped onto the first rung. It tilted a little before Formay straightened it.

"I'm okay."

She kept going until she was at the top, the slowly setting sun guiding her way.

"She's up, time to do our part Jennifer Keller," Formay glanced once at the top where Elizabeth had disappeared before grabbing Jennifer's hand and dragging her behind him.

Elizabeth hauled herself over the top of the little ledge and into a small, narrow hallway. She'd never been in this hallway before, she noticed offhandedly as she started looking through the little slats in the doors.

Eventually she found the one she was looking for. "Ronon? Rodney?"

"It's the double!" Rodney cried from inside. There was a smack as Ronon hit him in the arm.

"Dr. Weir?" Came Ronon's rough, suspicious voice.

"Yes! Ronon? It's so good to hear your voice!"

Rodney scrambled to the door and his face popped into view. Elizabeth smiled in greeting, giddy despite the danger pressing down upon them.

"Elizabeth!" he all but yelled.

"Shh, Rodney I'm here, are you alright?" Ronon's face appeared in the little window, shoving Rodney out of the way.

"Yeah, we're alright, Edyn and an old man, Kent? They're here too,"

"Kent?" Elizabeth muttered to herself, working on the locks on the door. "You mean Kennyth? Kennyth, are you alright?"

The old man moved to the door and Ronon shifted out of the way. "I'm here, Elizabeth; I'm alright. Can you open the door?"

Elizabeth felt the lock give under her twisting fingers and she pulled open the door. "Ask and ye shall receive," she said with a small smile.

"Quickly, get out of there," she continued, moving aside.

"It's good to see you," Kennyth pulled her close into a tight hug. Elizabeth smiled into his embrace.

"I've only been gone a few hours,"

He released her and smiled before Rodney pulled her into a hug next, Ronon grasping her shoulder. Edyn watched on with some confusion, but happy anyway.

"Reunion later guys, quickly, out the window,"

"What?" Rodney paled a little.

"Ladder," Ronon said, already at the window and sitting on the ledge. Edyn crossed to him and grasped his hand to get up and over.

"I'll go first," she pulled knife from her the back of her pants and clenched it in her teeth. She began descending; not noticing Elizabeth's and Ronon's raised eyebrows.

Kennyth went next, lowering himself carefully over the edge.

"Okay Rodney, you next." It took some coaching and some threatening on Ronon's part to get him going, but eventually he made it over and on the way down.

"Your turn," Ronon said. Footsteps sounded behind them, presumably the replicator doubles bringing more prisoners.

Elizabeth turned to look before jerking around to look at Ronon. "Go, John will need your help when all hell breaks loose,"

Ronon eyed her warily, "Earth expression, John will need your help."

Before he could stop her, she ran in the direction of the approaching figures, he began to follow but a shout from below called his attention.

"Ronon!" Rodney yelled as his replicator double rounded the corner.

He slid down the ladder and the battle began.

* * *

John rounded the corner and ran into Elizabeth. He grinned at her and waved his hand, "See, piece of cake,"

Elizabeth however, just raised an eyebrow at him before grabbing him around the throat.

"Aw…crap…" he gasped out, stretching for the pocket he knew was hidden in the folds of her clothing.

_They moved along quietly, sneaking through the deserted side streets._

_"Remember, the device is the key to this plan; the others hold them in the folds of their clothes. If you are able, retrieve it. They will help greatly. The ones that attacked us had them as well; your double, John Sheppard, pulled one from his pockets more than once,"_

_"I'm not going to like this," Jennifer muttered as they came to a stop between two houses to begin their attack._

He grasped it just before something else slammed into the double's back, sending all three crashing to the floor.

A sharp cry as the figure hit the floor clued John into the fact that it was his Elizabeth that had crashed into her double.

The three sprawled on the floor and John tucked away the device quickly, getting up to grab Elizabeth too. The double was up faster, knocking him in the other direction, tumbling down the narrow stairs he'd just come up.

"**John**!" he heard Elizabeth yell out before his view was cut off by the stone steps.

"Sheppard!" This time the voice was Rodney's as he, Ronon and Edyn ran past the door we tumbled out of, the double Rodney following them, red sparks flying as Ronon shot off pulse after pulse of his pistol.

John grabbed at the device and pushed a button. It wasn't what he was hoping for, but it certainly helped.

A loud, high pitched sound was emitted from the device and the Rodney replicator doubled over, hands to its head. Unfortunately, this effect only seemed to happen to the replicators in the immediate vicinity of the device. The other two replicators, Ronon and Teyla, came running from the other houses they were in, dropping their loads in the street.

Ronon and Rodney took on the Ronon replicator while Jennifer and Formay tackled the Teyla double, successfully pushing both back into the square before the replicators gained the upper hand, giving the team an extremely hard time.

John ran around to the side of the tower where Edyn was calling his name.

"You must go up and help Elizabeth Weir! I will help the others," she ran off to join the fight and John moved closer to the tower.

One explosion went off, the detonation timer running out. People that had been hiding in their homes rain through the square, trying to escape the fires and chaos that enveloped them.

That was when John saw a figure in the window. A figure that was dangerously close to falling off the ledge.

* * *

"You are a _very large_ wrinkle in our plan," the double advanced on Elizabeth, who was backing towards the window.

"What do you want?" Elizabeth tried, cursing herself when her voice came out trembling and slightly broken. Her arm was throbbing.

"Atlantis. All we want is your little city. All we needed was you. But your luck just had to hold, and now our plans have to change." Elizabeth's back hit the ledge and she had nowhere else to go.

"You don't have to do this. We'll find another way-,"

"There is no other way, human. We are the way, the new way to a new world. Accept it or perish."

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder, stuck. In the time it took her to look away, the double closed the space between them.

The double gripped her around the throat and lifted her off her feet. Elizabeth gasped for air and kicked her feet uselessly. Her vision was darkening. In the edges of her blurring vision, she could see the sunset splashing colour through the window she was about to be thrown.

"Goodbye, Elizabeth Weir,"

She didn't scream. There wasn't any point. She would fall and hit the ground and die. She closed her eyes and felt the edge of the ledge scrape against her toes. Air was rushing past her and an explosion in the distance.

Then a sharp pain all over her body at once. Glorious darkness.

* * *

_"What is a Guardian?" Edith rushed to keep up with Minhe as the elder rushed down the hallway of the tower._

_"We haven't much time; our friends are in danger,"_

_"We have just left them-," Edith said, almost tripping over her skirt as the older woman took a sharp turn, away from the stairs._

_"No. It will come, and soon."_

_"Please tell me, Minhe!" Edith all but shouted._

_Minhe stopped and turned to face the other woman. "There are two of us; we are sisters, Freha and I. Our parents found this planet, many years ago. They discovered the plants empowered them, gave them longer lives, __different abilities to use at their wish,"_

_"I don't understand," Edith was close to __beggin__ now._

_"Our father died protecting this planet from an enemy that took the very life from our people; they came from two rings, one on each side of the valley. As we grew, enemies came again and again, relentless in their pursuit of the properties the herbs of this planet have. It is why our people have so many abilities among them."_

_"My intuition, your visions?"__ Edith asked, curious and anxious at the same time._

_"Yes," Minhe continued, moving again down a long hall into the centre of the tower. "When we were old enough, our mother, __Idyha__, separated us and sent us each to guard over the two rings, to stop the enemies from coming through. When she died, Freha and I took what was left of her herbs and cast a protection over the gates. None came through for centuries."_

_Edith absorbed this, nearly being left behind. "But that means-,"_

_"Yes, we are very old," Minhe said, pushing open a door._

_She stopped in her tracks as the double Elizabeth came into view. The room was trashed, herbs crushed into the floor and bottles broken._

_"You," Minhe hissed._

_Edith remained in the hallway, hearing the malice in Minhe's voice. Before she could react, Minhe was shoved across the hall with such force that her neck broke on impact. The double turned to Edith next._

_

* * *

_

_omgoodness i know!_

no worries, the next part is coming soon!

dont forget to review!!


	9. Chapter 9

**mkay.** so my computer is done being a little cow and i allowing me back onto the internet!

**sparklyshimmer2010**, **savertin**, **charmed225**,** saphiretwin369** - thanks _so much_ for your reviews! enjoy the next part!

**enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

**Home to Me**

**

* * *

**

_Beep. Beep. Beep._ The monitor was slowly driving him crazy, he was sure of it. _Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Good news, colonel; monitor comes off today." Jennifer came around the privacy curtain. Her face still showed the little scratches she'd received two weeks earlier from the fight, but by now, Ronon had convinced her to wear them as badges of honour.

"Does that mean she's waking up?" John asked, sitting up straighter in his chair and setting aside his little tablet. He'd been playing games; not working like Rodney had said might help.

"Well, the wounds are healing well, she's still breathing on her own, her CAT scans and MRI's were good; she should be waking up soon," Jennifer reported with a small smile on her face.

"That _is_ good news," John agreed, glancing at Elizabeth's comatose body.

After they'd hauled ass through the gate almost 2 weeks ago, the area was swarming with techs and doctors and nurses, checking everyone over and relieving them of their weapons. Gurney's were everywhere with machines and wires and IV's and chaos had ensued for many hours until everyone was sorted out again.

Elizabeth had disappeared first, to be stabilized and checked over before anyone else could create a mess in the infirmary. Within the hour she was settled into a bed in the corner away from the hustle and bustle of infirmary life to recover on her own time.

"You know, they say talking to coma patients helps them wake up. Or, at least, lets them know you're here. They say they can hear you," Jennifer said as she prepared to change the only bandage left on Elizabeth besides her wraps and casts.

"Yeah, I heard that too. Maybe I'll take you up on that." John said as he picked up his tablet again. He hated seeing Jennifer change the head wound. While it didn't bleed, or even ooze, just seeing it made him slightly sick to his stomach.

"Alright, well, get some rest colonel; you're recovering too." And with that, she was gone, moving off to tend to a clumsy scientist.

John peered over the edge of the tablet at Elizabeth. She looked almost peaceful; besides the bandage, she could've been sleeping. The light cast around her wrist could come off next week, the bandage on her ankle in two; her ribs would be sore for a while, but other than that, she'd gotten off amazingly easy.

"Hey," Ronon's voice interrupted his musing. John started and almost dropped the tablet.

"Hey," John answered, straightening a little again.

"How is she today?" Ronon asked, taking the other seat by her side. He'd been in every day of the past 2 weeks, silently sitting by Elizabeth's side for a while.

"Doc says she's better," John reported, eyeing the larger man in front of him.

"Good."

John smirked to himself as Ronon looked over his shoulder where Jennifer was bandaging the clumsy scientist from before.

"Are Formay, Edyn and Kennyth going back to Terradyn today?" John asked, turning back to his tablet slyly.

Ronon didn't turn to look at him, "Uh, I'm not sure; Carter says the explosives did a number on the ground around the gate or something."

John shook his head, "You know, it wouldn't kill you to call her Sam,"

"What?" This time Ronon turned to look at John.

"Colonel Carter; you can call her Sam. I'm sure she would actually prefer it. She respects you and Elizabeth enough not to try to replace her."

Ronon raised his eyebrows, "I know that,"

"Then why don't you ever talk to her or look at her or call her Sam?" John asked, scoring some more points on his game before looking up again.

"I do, sometimes," Ronon said, looking away again.

John smirked. "Really?"

"Yeah. You know, Jennifer and I were going to have lunch with her today." He said confidently.

"We were?" Jennifer asked, coming up behind him, a curious look on her face.

Ronon dropped his head to his chest. "Guess not."

John chuckled to himself. "Think about it,"

Ronon raised his hands in surrender and stood, moving off with Jennifer for their lunch break.

"You know, I think he's a big softie at heart," John whispered to Elizabeth before turning back to his game.

* * *

"Colonel Sheppard, what are you still doing here? You should be asleep," Jennifer was surprised to see John still sitting by Elizabeth's side, playing away at his tablet.

"I was going to, but I think Elizabeth got a hold of my tablet one day and," John trailed off, concentrating on the game.

"And...what?" Jennifer asked, moving closer to take off the monitor. She had forgotten to earlier, but knew it must be driving John crazy by now.

"She played my favourite game, beat my high score, and now I can't beat hers," John said, his tongue poking out in concentration.

Jennifer shook her head and wrapped up the monitor wires and switched off the power. "Alright, well, good luck John. I'll see you tomorrow,"

John nodded and waved good bye before going back to the game and Elizabeth's high score.

He'd finally nodded off when a thrashing against his leg brought him crashing into reality; Elizabeth was jerking around on the bed, seemingly in the grip of a nightmare. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her face was screwed up in pain. Her fingers alternated between splaying against the sheets and gripping them tightly.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth, calm down, you're alright now, and you're safe. Wake up, wake up, Liz."

Elizabeth let out a long breath and seemed to settle a bit, but John's adrenaline was pumping. He gripped her hand and held her upper arm with the other, prepared to shake her awake.

"There you go, just relax, Liz, everything's fine," John continued, slowly sitting back down. His feet had been propped on her bed; he hadn't even realized he'd stood up.

"John?" the whispered, sandpapery voice brought his attention from the nurse's button on the bedside table to the woman lying before him.

"Elizabeth!" John gripped her hand tighter and felt her squeeze weakly in return.

"You're awake, oh thank God," John continued, this time reaching for the nurse's button. He had to lean across her bed to get to it, and was thankful her bed was reclined.

"How long?" Elizabeth rasped out, opening her eyes a little.

"Just under two weeks," John answered, pushing the button and sitting back down.

"Everyone?"

"They're all fine, Elizabeth," John answered, hearing the nurse's footsteps coming closer. Elizabeth's eyes were drooping again and she was falling asleep.

"What about, the people," she yawned widely and John repeated the contagious motion, "What about the people in the city?" Elizabeth managed.

John looked away and didn't answer. She was asleep before she realized he didn't reply...

_Edith backed away from the double slowly, inching towards the stairs and possible escape._

_"I knew you were trouble the moment you came through the ring," she spoke confidently, though her hands shook with fear she couldn't control._

_"And yet, you did nothing until it was too late," Elizabeth smirked, closing in on the old woman._

_"You were sneaky, but you will be stopped," Edith said. A shout came from the bottom of the steps._

_"Edith! Edith are you__ up there?" loud footsteps came bounding up the stone steps._

_"Tometh! No, go back!" Edith lunged to stop him but he skidded in front of her, in the path of the replicator._

_"Elizabeth! There you are, the others in the city, everyone's bei-," a tight fist closed around his young throat._

_"Eliza-beth, what are you…doing…" Tometh gasped out, clawing at her hands. _

_"Killing you," Elizabeth smiled coldly and with one swift jerk, broke his neck._

_"Tometh!" Edith cried out, dropping next to his dead body and beginning to cry. "He was an innocent child; he did nothing to harm you,"_

_"No, but he could have." _

_Edith looked up as Elizabeth's shadow fell across Tometh's body. There was a sharp pain around her neck as it snapped. And she was gone.

* * *

_

"Colonel Sheppard, were you here all night?"

Jennifer nudged the sleeping form of John, watching in amusement as he blinked a few times in confusion, looking around.

"Uh, I guess. _Oh_! She woke up, in the middle of the night, for a bit." John reported, stretching and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Excellent!" Jennifer said, smiling widely and checking Elizabeth over.

"I thought so," John replied, leaning back in his little chair, closing his eyes again.

"You should go and get some rest in your quarters," Jennifer said, unhooking the IV from Elizabeth's hand and changing the equipment before inserting a new IV on the other hand.

John took a look at the clock on the tablet, it glowed 9:21 AM, and yawned widely. "Well, I'm alright for now. Maybe I should do some work. Elizabeth's gonna have a hell of a time getting caught up after this mess,"

Jennifer shook her head, still smiling, as John squeezed Elizabeth's hand as he stood and walked out of the infirmary.

"You know, he's pretty taken with you," Jennifer whispered to Elizabeth, removing the head bandage and poking at the healing wound.

* * *

"How is she?" Rodney asked as he ran into John in the mess hall.

"You could always go **see her**," John said, pushing a lump of oatmeal around his bowl. Rodney had yet to visit Elizabeth in the infirmary.

"I don't, I can't. Just tell me, is she better?" John couldn't tell what it was that was bothering Rodney so much about Elizabeth being hurt; he refused to go see her, instead working harder than normal and typing reports. Anything that would fill the time he could use to visit the former leader of Atlantis.

"Last I was there she'd woken up in the middle of the night. Keller's with her now,"

"Did you tell her about," Rodney trailed off, knowing John knew who he was talking about.

John sighed deeply and shifted his bowl out of the way. "No, I didn't. I didn't have the time. She was too tired,"

"She's been asleep for two weeks," Rodney said, a little confused.

John glared at him, "I know that, Rodney, but she fell asleep again right away."

"Right," Rodney said. He took another mouthful of his breakfast/lunch.

"You know were Ronon is?"

"You mean he's not drooling over Keller in the infirmary?" Rodney drawled, taking a gulp from his coffee cup.

"Nope," John answered, smirking slightly.

"Huh," Rodney answered, raising his eyebrows in almost-surprise.

"Alright, I'm going to find some work to do. I'll see you later Rodney. Go see Elizabeth."

"Yeah, yeah,"

* * *

Formay watched the old man sit on the small balcony overlooking the wide expanse of water. Kennyth sat in a quiet meditation, almost. He had barely spoken to anyone since they had arrived on Atlantis from Terradyn.

Colonel Carter had sent a small scouting aircraft through the gate to their city, to assess the extent of the damage by the explosives the day after they had arrived; the land around the gate looked unstable and the surrounding buildings looked damaged as well. There weren't very many people in sight; they hoped they had fled into the trees and to the settlement on the other side of the valley.

_"Can we not just go through the second ring on our planet? Near the settlement over the valley?" Formay questioned. He and Kennyth stood in Sam's office, talking about the possibilities of going home._

_"We can't get a lock on the gate; it's like the gate keeps trying to jump over it to the one in your city. We haven't been able to get through yet,"_

Kennyth had seen the footage the device had sent back. His hope was dwindling; he wasn't sure if Edith was still alive.

"Kennyth, you should come and get some food with us. The people of Atlantis have much to offer," Formay tried to lure the older man with the promise of food.

Kennyth just shook his head, looking out into the water.

Edyn rested her hand on Formay's shoulder before pulling him by the hand to the mess hall to eat.

* * *

It was another day and a half before Sam called the team, Formay, Edyn and Kennyth to the conference to discuss returning to Terradyn.

"I've called you here because we've successfully connected to the gate in your city," Sam looked to Formay and the other two Terradyns. "After sending through the probes, we've determined the ground stable enough for some recon; Colonel Sheppard, your team will go back the city and take a closer look at the damage and report back."

Kennyth looked up, hopeful. "May we go with him?"

Sam hesitated, looking to John for his thoughts. He shrugged a little and nodded slightly to show his agreement.

"If you follow Colonel Sheppard's team closely, there shouldn't be a problem with it," Sam answered.

"When do we leave?" Ronon asked.

"As soon as possible. Gear up," Sam answered again, pushing back from her chair. As she left, she saw the hope return to Kennyth's eyes and hoped that he found his wife alive and well in the forests around the city.

"Let's go people."

Within the hour, John, Ronon, Keller, Rodney, Formay, Edyn and Kennyth were suited up and ready to go through the gate.

As it exploded open, Edyn gripped her brother's hand. "I'm not sure I want to know what is on the other side,"

Formay smiled down at her, "Either way, we should know what became of our home,"

"Let's move out." John said.

The group moved through the gate, steeling themselves for whatever they would find on the other side.

* * *

oooh suspense! anyone want to take a whack at guessing what's on the other side? anyone?

lol, please review! they are always welcome and actually needed to keep me motivated!

thanks to all you awesome reviewer already...reviewing...hehe, keep it up, you rock!


	10. Chapter 10

**OKAY **so, this week has been crazy, the past two have been crazy. oh! and i saw We Will Rock You on wed. and can i just say it ROCKED lol if you get the chance to see it, GO! lol, i like Wicked better, but meh, to each their own. anywho, sorry for the long wait, but here's the next part!

**sparklyshimmer2010 - **thx for reviewing! and yep, soon the twist will come, no worries

**JenniDinoRobot - **lol it's ok Jenne, choir auditions are acceptable...srry to say neither of ur guesses, though in the future-hmm...

**Savertin - **good guess, thx for the review!

**Charmed225 - **here's the next bit! enjoy!

**saphiretwin369 - **here you go, thx for the review! much appreciated.

thx for all the support guys!

enjoy!**

* * *

**

Home to Me

* * *

Jennifer took in the ruins before her; the ground surrounding the earth was charred and black from the explosion, littered with the rubble of the city square. The trees were gone, or blown to pieces. There was no sound. Everything was quiet. She'd seen the pictures and video from the recon before them, but to see it in person was something more fascinatingly horrible than she could imagine.

And then she saw the bodies; there were about 9, 6 elder residents of the city and 3 young men between them. Jennifer felt tears well in her eyes as she conjured up images of the 3 men helping the old to safety, leading them from their crumbling city. She pushed them down as the team moved forward; she'd dealt with bodies before, she was a doctor.

Ronon squeezed her hand and Jennifer blinked, one fat tear rolling down her cheek. So she was a doctor, so she'd seen dead bodies before; didn't make it any easier.

They moved off to count the dead and assess the extent of the damage.

John knelt beside a dead woman; she was old, at least 80 with shock white hair and pale, colourless skin. He felt for a pulse, despite his knowledge she was dead. Her skin was cool, covered in dust and debris from his C4.

He stood and looked over at Rodney, who was standing in the middle of the square, looking around in almost shock.

"Let's look around; pair up," John called, moving off towards Rodney and steering him towards the nearest building where Formay was waiting, face grim.

Standing off to one side, just in front of the gate, was Kennyth and Edyn, gripping each other's hands. They were almost strangers, had seen each other only during the white season and even then only in passing on the streets. They squeezed each other's hands and watched as the team from Atlantis searched through the remains of the heart of their city.

* * *

Sam sat next to Elizabeth in the infirmary; the former leader had yet to awaken again, but the only wires coming off her were the smaller heart monitor that wasn't quite so annoying and the IV drip that Jennifer had changed before leaving for Terradyn. 

Sam sifted through some reports on her lap before picking up her data pad to check some fact or another. On the bed next to her, Elizabeth remained unconscious.

"Colonel Carter, I just need to change the head dressing?" the young nurse spoke quietly from behind Sam.

Sam looked up, "Sure, go ahead,"

The nurse shifted over to the bed and began changing the bandage. "This is weird," she muttered.

Sam looked up wearily. "What's that?"

The nurse looked up with a puzzled frown. "The bandage is dry with blood, but there's not a scratch on her…"

Sam dropped her stack of reports on the floor beside her chair and set the data pad on top before moving closer to inspect the head wound.

There was no wound; no scar, no scratch, no blood. Nothing.

"That _is_ weird," Sam muttered to herself, looking up at the nurse.

* * *

There was ringing; not too noticeable at first, but it was there, just at the edge of her senses. Why wouldn't it stop? 

The sound grew in pitch and volume until it couldn't be ignored anymore; why wouldn't it stop?

It was grating on her nerves, racing along all her nerves until they twitched under the cruel noise, as if trying to escape the body itself.

Why wouldn't it stop?

* * *

"What's happening?" Sam asked, jumping back as Elizabeth started twitching and convulsing on the bed. 

The nurse looked a little panicked but quickly recovered, yelling for Dr. Goh, the newest addition to the medical department.

Dr. Goh was at their side in a flash, injecting something into Elizabeth's IV and pushing the young nurse out of the way. Elizabeth's convulsion slowed to a small twitch and the doctor pushed another needle into Elizabeth's arm, holding her down as she jerked again.

"Hold her legs!" Dr. Goh ordered the nurse.

The nurse gripped Elizabeth's ankles and Sam bit down on a thumbnail, watching in tense fixation as the two held her down.

Elizabeth was still again, her limbs relaxing and laying limp against the other two women's hands.

"She's stable," Dr. Goh reported, checking Elizabeth's vitals.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, moving forward again.

"Kat, go and grab a depressor would you?" the woman spoke calmly but firmly, sending the shaken young nurse to get the small bit of plastic.

"What's that for?" Sam asked, pulling her thumbnail away from her lips.

"To put in her mouth so she doesn't bite her tongue if she convulses again. To answer your earlier question, I don't know what caused it; it could be a number of things. She could be waking up, or having a reaction to the IV or just having nightmares. In any case, the mild sedatives should help her remain relaxed." Dr. Goh replied.

"So this could be a good thing?" Sam asked hopefully, catching what the other woman had said about Elizabeth waking up.

Dr. Goh looked uneasy, "It could be, but we should be prepared for every possibility."

Sam nodded tiredly, "Thank you doctor,"

Dr. Goh nodded and moved away, taking the depressor from the returned nurse, Kat.

"Please just be waking up. I don't think this city could handle it if anything else happened to you," Sam mumbled to the sleeping Elizabeth.

* * *

John and Rodney ascended the stairs carefully behind Formay. They were entering the last building they were to search and were more than ready to return to Atlantis and relative normalcy. 

Formay stopped in his tracks at the top of the steps, frozen in place. "We should ensure that Edyn and Kennyth do not see them,"

John and Rodney joined in Formay's shock as the bodies of Edith and Tometh invaded their vision; the old woman lay next to the boy, an arm stretched out for his fingers.

"Crap," John muttered, moving forward and kneeling beside the two. Formay averted his eyes and moved deeper into the tower, stepping over broken glass and blood.

"In here," he called a moment later from a room down the long corridor.

John and Rodney jogged the short distance and stood behind him as they looked into the room. It was beyond trashed, herbs and vials, papers and folders and shelves and books strewn everywhere, some burned, some still intact.

"What the hell happened here?" Rodney asked to nobody in particular.

John's radio crackled to life as Jennifer spoke, her voice a little shaky over the connection. "_Colonel, Ronon and I are taking Edyn and Kennyth back to Atlantis with the, uh, deceased from the square_."

John motioned for the other two men to follow him out of the room. "Alright, we'll come with you."

They left the tower, pulling the door closed behind them. In the square, before the Stargate as Jennifer dialed, Kennyth turned to John, Edyn letting go of him to find her brother.

"Did you see Edith? Was she in the tower?" John could hear the fear in the man's voice and debated whether or not to lie.

"We have not seen her yet; there are more places to look still. We will find her," Formay spoke from behind John.

John thanked the other man silently as the gate whooshed open, leading them home.

* * *

"Dr. Keller, you're needed in the infirmary as soon as possible," Sam greeted the team grimly as soon as they came through the gate. 

Jennifer moved off even as she called for stretchers to go back to the city and bring the dead through. Ronon followed her, carrying her pack as she shrugged out of her vest and jacket.

"What's wrong?" John asked as Edyn, Formay and Kennyth followed a pair of marines to get cleaned up.

"It's Elizabeth, John, she's fine, but there've been some," she searched for the right word, "Twists," she settled on.

"Twists? That doesn't sound '_fine_' to me," John said tensely, walking away to dump his gear and then visit Elizabeth. Sam watched him go before returning to the control room to get the other medical personnel through to Terradyn.

* * *

_It was back; the medication had helped before, numbing her senses until the ringing was nothing, but now it was back and it was louder than before._

_It wouldn't stop, wouldn't cease. It was unrelenting and it felt like her limbs were being pulled and stretched and crushed all at the same time. Her head felt like it would implode if it didn't stop soon._

_Why wouldn't it stop? Why wasn't anyone giving her more of whatever had stopped it last time?_

"Do something!" John yelled as Dr. Goh pushed more sedative into Elizabeth's IV.

"That's all I can give her!" the doctor yelled back, stepping closer and pushing the depressor into Elizabeth's mouth, pulling her hand back before a finger got bitten.

A low moan rose from the bed and John reached out to touch her hand before pulling back.

"Make it _stop_," Elizabeth groaned out, feeling her fingers clench and twist in agony.

"Make it **stop**! **Make it stop**! _Please_, make it stop, John, _please_! It hurts _so much_, **please make it stop**!" Elizabeth spat out the chunk of plastic and John felt his stomach clench and twist as Elizabeth cried out in pain.

"What's wrong with her?" John demanded. The doctor held Elizabeth down, pulling off a cap of a needle as more nurses flooded the area, shoving John out of the way.

"Move it people," the doctor ordered, sticking the needle into the jumping IV as the team of nurses pulled up the bed rails and lowered the bed and dropped pillows around the metal.

John watched, helpless as Jennifer ran in, Ronon still behind her, and shift a nurse out of the way to help.

Ronon lead John away with a firm grip on his upper arm and John fought the whole way.

* * *

Later that night, John sat with Elizabeth, holding her hand and stroking his thumb over her skin. He'd seen the non-existent head wound, the healed scratches and bones and had heard the theory that the nanites were active again. 

"What's going on in there, Lizzie?" he mumbled as he shifted in the chair.

"John," Elizabeth peeled open her eyes, clutching at John's hand.

"Elizabeth!" John moved to press the nurses' call button but a hand whipped out to grasp his wrist.

John removed his hands from hers and stared down at Elizabeth.

"Something's wrong," her voice was slurred and a little sluggish.

"What?" John asked, frowning and leaning closer.

"I can hear it, can't you _hear_ it?" Elizabeth said, twisting her face up into a grimace.

"I don't hear anything."

"It's all I can hear; it won't _stop_. I think something's wrong." Elizabeth moaned lowly as a particularly loud pulse of sound ripped through her mind.

"There's no noise, Elizabeth, just you and me." John whispered, grabbing her hand again. Elizabeth jerked it back.

"No! Something's_ wrong_! With **me**, something's wrong _with me_." Elizabeth whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"There's nothing wrong, Liz, you're doing great!" John tried to be positive but Elizabeth just twisted her head away before turning back.

"You don't understand!" she cried, pulling her hands up to head, as if she could squeeze the sound out.

John grasped her hands and pulled them from her head, fearing she might hurt herself by accident. "You're fine, Elizabeth, it's okay; you're ribs are healed, your bones, the nanites are gon-,"

"**No**!" Elizabeth jerked her hands from his again. "Listen!"

John looked down at her helplessly, reaching for the nurse's button again.

"Stop!" Elizabeth knocked the little device from his hands and looked him in the eye. "When they took them out, the nanites, they had to take me apart,"

John wiped at the tears falling from her eyes, "What are you talking about?" he asked in confusion and desperation.

"They had to! They helped but they hurt and now, I'm **wrong**! I'm _wrong_, John."

"You're fine, stop talking like this! Let me call the doctor," John said, feeling so helpless he felt tears welling in his own eyes. He pushed them down.

"No! The doctors can't help, not here! Listen!"

John leaned closer as Elizabeth pulled on his hand.

"They helped, but they hurt. They helped me. But I died John;_ I died and I came back wrong_."

* * *

_"She's dying!" Edith yelled as the woman's monitor beeped its distress._

_"She's not fully made of the enemy virus cells," Minhe spoke, shock and surprise coloring her face and voice._

_"Use the charges," she continued.

* * *

_

_"We used a machine I cannot begin to describe the meaning of and removed much of, well, you." Edith smiled reassuringly as Elizabeth paled._

_"Not to worry, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds and everything is fine now. We removed the, nanites, and you were perfectly healthy."_

_"So, it was relatively simple?" Elizabeth asked, already thinking about how useful the technology could be._

_"Relatively; if you know how to use it," Elizabeth smiled as Edith winked._

_

* * *

_

hmm, curious-er and curious-er...lol

plz review, as per usual, because they totally rock my world.

oh, points to anyone who can guess where the 'i came back wrong' part comes from... good luck and thx in advance!


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since i updated, but with March Break and all my internet problems, it's been a nightmare! So, without further hinderance, here's the next part!

**enjoy!**

* * *

**Home to Me**

* * *

Everything was silent and still; the deserted city was blanketed in a soft layer of white, the skies a bland and unforgiving grey. The streets were empty, as expected, and crystallized, like powdered sugar had been dumped from overhead. 

John looked around the city in a state of mild shock; he hadn't expected this much in only a couple of days. There was a significant chill to the air and he felt his ears and nose begin to burn from the cold. Looking around, he discovered in surprise that he was alone.

"Hello?" He called out. He tapped his radio only to be answered by static. John took a couple steps away from the gate and frowned, sweeping his eyes over the quite city again.

A breeze blew through the streets, sending a slight shiver down his spine. John turned to look in either direction, seeing nothing but the ruins and the shadows of the city. He moved further into the city, keeping his eyes open and his ears strained for any hint of movement or sound.

"_John_," a voice whispered across the snow. John turned to look to his left, training his gun on the white powder. Seeing nobody, he pushed ahead, the snow filling his boots and freezing his toes. He ignored the biting cold.

"_John_," the voice whispered again, a little more insistent this time. He turned again, this time to his right. There was nothing; just the beginnings of another round of snow, flakes drifting lazily from the grey clouds above his head.

John turned in a full circle before moving into the closest building. They'd removed the bodies, leaving only rubble in their wake. The tower was cold, grey and empty; only a torn painting clung to the stone wall. Heglanced at it offhandedly as he moved past; there was a family, two girls and their parents, all looking regal and happy with a deep red as the backdrop.

John moved on, looking into the rooms in the tower. He reached the last room and pushed the door open. He froze, his eyes trained on the bed.

Elizabeth lay still as death, eyes open and staring at the ceiling, hands clasped on her stomach. She wore a pure white, simple dress with no sleeves and had no shoes. There was no colour to her at all and John felt his joints lock up in panic and shock.

After a full minute, he sucked in a cool breath and released it, pushing himself into the room. As he got closer, Elizabeth came into better focus.

Her eyes, beautiful in life, were saturated with colour but devoid of light. They were empty eyes. Her cheeks were deathly pale as the snow outside the window and her lips were blue tinged. Her bare arms were white as chalk, resting limply against her stomach. There was no breath.

John pushed his P-90 away from him and reached out a hand to feel for a pulse he knew wouldn't be there. The skin was cold to the touch, like holding ice on his fingertips.

He trailed his fingers down a bare forearm to her hands; the white skin was frozen, stiff and cold in death. Her eyes remained open, staring at nothing on the ceiling.

"What happened to you?" He asked the body, biting back a shiver at the cold of the city, the room. The body.

"_John_," the whisper floated through the room and John's eyes immediately and instinctively jumped to Elizabeth's blue lips, hoping beyond reason that she was still alive somehow.

The woman was still.

"_Keep hope_," the voice whispered this time, brushing against his ear like a breath of air.

He looked around the small room, searching with his eyes for the source of the voice. There was nobody. Just him and Elizabeth. What _used to be_ Elizabeth.

There was a sudden gust of wind and snow came whipping in the window, blinding him. John raised his hands protectively and squinted his eyes, reaching out for something to hold onto.

His hands grasped only air and before he could think about it, he was sprawling on hard tile, nothing like the hardwood he'd expected.

"Colonel Sheppard!" a female voice was calling. Hands grasped at his arm and John batted them away.

"Sheppard!" this time a male voice, rough and slightly amused. Firmer hands replaced the soft ones and he felt himself being hauled up. He opened his eyes and Ronon was glaring at him, grip shaking him slightly.

"Ronon? What the hell are you doing?" John asked, surprising himself at the scratchiness of his voice.

There was no more cold or silence or snow, just Ronon and an incessant beeping.

"What?"

"He was dreaming, a nightmare by he look of it," John turned his head to see Jennifer peering over at him from her place on the other side of Ronon. A closer look put Elizabeth's infirmary bed between them.

"Must have fallen asleep. How is she?"

Jennifer felt pained at the thinly veiled hope in the man's voice. "No change, which could be good news, considering she's not getting worse,"

John nodded, prying Ronon's fingers from his uniform, "Good. I'm starving. Dreams really take it out of you, you know?"

Ronon watched him go, exchanging a look with Jennifer.

* * *

In the stirring breeze, the silver mounds finally came together into the forms of people, shifting into new appearances. Silver turned to smooth skin and soft hair and hard muscles. 

One figure looked up to the darkening sky and closed its eyes, shaking off the stiffness of disembodiment. The other figures gathered close, also loosening limbs and becoming reacquainted with their forms.

"What now?" One spoke.

The first remainedtilted up at the sky, a wicked smile overtaking its pretty pink lips.

"Now we get back to work."

* * *

"I think I've got it!" Rodney nearly shouted, running into Sam's office a few hours later, waving around his data pad. 

Jennifer ducked to avoid being hit. "What've you got Rodney?"

Rodney looked over at her in surprise, "Sorry, didn't know you were in here. Anyway, I, being the brilliant scientist I am, have come up with a theory that explains Elizabeth's illness."

Sam and Jennifer looked on in expectation as Rodney looked between them, excited. He blinked. "Oh! Right."

He passed over his data pad for Sam to inspect as he rattled off his theory.

"When we first arrived in Terradyn, there were energy readings everywhere, which is of course to be expected, seeing as how they had power and electricity and stuff. There was one signal we didn't get time to track down; it was the strongest and it was giving off way more energy than a simple power station would need."

"What does this have to do with Dr. Weir?" Jennifer asked, frowning in confusion.

"My theory is that when they removed the nanites, they zapped them with some kind of radiation-,"

"_Radiation_?!" Sam and Jennifer asked at the same time, looking up in alarm.

"Nothing **near** harmful to us, don't panic." Rodney said, waving off their concern. "Anyway, the small EM field from the device they must have used had a range. Now, while Elizabeth remained inside the range, she was fine, the nanites would remain inactive and wouldn't replicate or anything."

"Okay, I'm following so far," Jennifer said, shifting in her seat. Rodney paced in front of her.

"Good, so when we set off the explosives, the field was at least weakened and when we left the planet with her, she was outside the range."

"Eliminating the radiation keeping the nanites inactive." Sam concluded, scrolling down on Rodney's data pad.

"Right. So, best I can tell from your scans," Rodney gestured distractedly to Jennifer. "The nanites were damaged from prolonged exposure to the radiation. The worst they can do is mess around with her nervous system. If I'm right, which is most likely, a few more weeks in the city and she would have been as good as new." Rodney finished, stopping his pacing and facing the two women.

"So, we could just bring her back to the city and she should recover?" Jennifer asked, glad to at least have some kind of lead to work on.

"Well, assuming we could find the device, get it working properly and get her there without crashing, sure." Rodney said, a sarcastic expression on his face as he listed the downsides.

"Can you find the device, Rodney?" Sam asked, setting aside the data pad.

Rodney looked wary, "Maybe, if everything wasn't totally thrown off by the C4."

"Take a team; see if you can find it and fix it." Sam said, handing over his data pad. Jennifer watched him hurry from the room.

"What are we going to do?" she asked Sam, standing and facing her.

"We're going to find this device and get Elizabeth Weir better," Sam said firmly. "Now, can you make sure she's stable enough to travel through the gate?"

Jennifer nodded, paling a little at the thought of going back to the city, images of explosions and blood and bodies floating through her mind. "Yeah, that should be easy enough,"

"Good, when Rodney contacts you, be ready." Sam said standing and moving around the desk.

"She'll be fine. She's strong," Sam said, her voice softening. Jennifer looked at her thankfully.

"Of course." She said, smiling, before leaving the office. Sam watched her go and bit her lip; she really hoped this would work.

* * *

"Rodney," Radek called as the other scientist ignored him. 

"Shut up, working." Rodney muttered, tapping buttons of his computer and laptop simultaneously.

"But **Rodney**," Radek tried again, tapping Rodney on the shoulder.

"_Stop it_, genius at work." Rodney shifted his shoulder and Radek sighed, pulling his hand back. The Czech scientist moved in front of Rodney and jerked the laptop from his fingers, grabbing Rodney's attention at the same time.

"Listen, Rodney." Radek ordered, staring the other man down.

Rodney sighed heavily, reaching for the laptop, "What, Radek?"

"You need to find the device in the city, _right_?"

"Right."

"And we have citizens of said city here on Atlantis, _right_?"

"Right, righ-," Rodney stopped mid eye roll. He sighed and closed his eyes in frustration. "Shut up; no gloating. Where's Formay and Kennyth?"

* * *

Freya looked up as a commotion by the edge of the forest drew her attention. "What is it?" she asked a woman running by. 

"A group from Terradyn! They bring news from the city!" the woman called over her shoulder as she headed for the group of people stopped at the edge of the trees, surrounded by citizens of the settlement.

Freya squinted into the distance and picked out the faces of the new comers; there were 5 of them, all looked tired and in need of food, water and rest.

She moved toward the group, speaking loudly and clearly as she went. "Move aside! Find some food and water for our guests! And some rooms, let them rest."

Freya reached the small group and welcomed them.

She felt a cold tremor in the pit of her stomach as one greeted her with a small, almost wicked, smile.

* * *

dun dun dun 

lol okay, right, now it gets a little confusing, but i promise, it will make sense by the end!

oh, btw the 'i came back wrong' thing is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer,a totally awesome show, if i do say so myself. anyway, basically, buffy dies and when they bring her back to life, this whole 'i cam back wrong' storyline was really really interesting.

just a side note; i dont own buffy the vampire slayer in any way shape or form. im just borrowing the line. while we're on the subject, i'm extremely confidant you also know i dont own stargate atlantis or any of the original characters. if i did, elizabeth would NOT be dead, no matter how much i loved sam carter on sg1.

with aaaaaalllllllll that said, sorry for the delay again and plz plz plz tell me you've not lost the will to review? please? drop me a line? tell me how ur feeling about this fic? it would really make my day... :)


	12. Chapter 12

wow. so many reviews, what are we at, like 52? AMAZING you guys rock, thanks for the support!

**sparklyshimmer2010 - **aw, thanks so much! enjoy this next part!

**JenniDinoRobot - **haha you always make me laugh, i luuuv ur reviews! lol and i can tell how much you're enjoying this, which means a lot! thx jenn!

**Savertin - **i'm glad ur less confused! i hope im being clear enough for you! sometimes it just comes out in a jumbled mess, you know? im glad u still like it though! thanks for the review!

**Charmed225 - **here you go, less of a wait this time though! lol enjoy the next bit!

**enjoy!!**

_Tometh grinned, blushing deeply under Elizabeth's green eyed gaze. None of the other women in Terradyn had such eyes. Surprisingly, only the males had colored eyes; the women's remained brown._

* * *

Freya sat in her rooms, resting after a long talk with her second in command about the newcomers; she'd discovered nothing legitimately wrong with them, but wanted some kind of discrete guard over them at all times.

She sighed, leaning back into her pillows, exhausted; she hadn't been this tired in a long time.

There was a knock on the door and Freya pulled herself up into a better sitting position, "Enter, please,"

One of the newcomers entered the room, smiling gently as she approached Freya; the smile may have looked warm and kind, but to Freya, it seemed…off.

"How may I help you?" Freya asked all the same, a smile forcing it's way to her lips.

"You remember my name is-,"

"Malei, from Terradyn," Freya cut in, smiling a little wider.

"Yes," Malei smiled wider as well and the old woman couldn't stop the shiver from running up and down her spine.

"What do you wish, Malei?"

"My friends and I, we were wondering if you had news of those travelers here before us? From through the Stargate?"

Freya frowned internally, but outwardly shook her head with a small smile, "I'm afraid they were in the city with a few of my people. I am under the belief they returned to their city when ours failed to communicate,"

Malei's smile twitched a little, as if the news threw her off. "Of course; one more question, if you aren't too tired?"

Freya was wary, but nodded slowly any way. "Anything,"

"May we try and travel through the Stargate? We wouldn't want to burden your people; we have other settlements beyond this planet that would take us in."

Freya felt a cool fear settle in the back of her mind at the thought of these strangers leaving the planet. In that moment, that 6 second delay it took her to ask the question, Freya noticed two things. The woman called the ring a Stargate, which none of the city or the settlement people referred to it as, and that her eyes were the deep violet of wine.

* * *

"Let's hope we end up in the city and not that settlement again; I'm so not trekking through the forest in snow." Rodney complained as he approached John, Ronon and a small group of marines waiting to go through the gate.

"Rodney, you seriously need to cut down on all this moaning and complaining you have going on; it's a real big downer," John retorted, hefting Rodney backpack onto the scientist's back as Rodney struggled.

"Thanks, and I'm not _complaining_; I'm simply letting you know what I do and do not plan on doing."

John rolled his eyes and faced the gate again. It began dialing and soon, the shimmering blue pool offered a way back to Terradyn.

"Let's move out," The group moved through the gate and waited on the other side, safely in Terradyn.

"Alright, we're good," John said into his radio. Within a minute, Jennifer came through with another squad of marines carrying a stretcher with Elizabeth on it between them.

"On there guys, keep it steady," Jennifer gestured to a sturdy looking slab of rock, following the marines as they gently rested the stretcher on the slab, untangling the wires and IVs around Elizabeth's body.

"She still okay?" John asked, moving to talk to the doctor. Ronon and Rodney took 6 of the marines and split up to search for the device that could help Elizabeth.

John stayed with Jennifer and the remaining 4 marines to watch the gate.

"She's doing okay. I really hope this works; to come to far, to get so close to a right answer. It'll break a lot of hearts if this fails," Jennifer spoke, checking on Elizabeth's vitals.

John opened his mouth to reply onto snap it shut and look around; he hadn't realized the city was blanketed in a soft layer of snow.

* * *

"What do we do now?"

Malei looked over at her companions and frowned to herself, "I'm not sure yet; our main objective is to get off this planet before these humans suspect us of anything,"

"We could take them all, it couldn't take more that 10 minutes," the figure was rough looking with light brown hair and startling grey eyes

"No, that won't help; already I'm sure John and the others have figured out that Elizabeth needs the range of the device to keep the nanites inactive. It won't be long before they come looking here for the equipment,"

"So we're back to my original question; what do we do now?"

"There is no simple answer here; we need a plan." Malei told the muscular blonde man with green eyes.

"Can we not just, leave?" another asked.

Malei looked over at her; short, deeply tanned with deep, shimmery blue eyes and thick blonde hair.

"We need to be careful; if they become too suspicious of us, it would create more problems than it would help,"

"We could always crash their power generator," the voice belonged to the tall, slender man with dark, nearly black hair and brown eyes.

"No, we need to be careful. We'll wait. They'll forget about us soon enough; when they trust us enough to take our guard away, then we can leave easier."

"I thought you said we had to move fast? Waiting for that could be days," the grey eyed man pointed out.

Malei looked out from their tent on the edge of the settlement. "Not if we make an effort. Now; we need names."

* * *

Sam sat in her office, leafing through the last of a seemingly never-ending pile of documents when the gate activated, sending the control room in a swirl of activity.

"Sir, General O'Neil is making his scheduled connection," a tech poked her head in the office.

Sam smiled and waved her thanks before setting aside the papers and getting up from her desk.

Entering the control room, she felt a warm feeling spread through her at the sight of General O'Neil. She took a seat in the back corner of the control room and the gate techs dutifully turned away, not wanting to listen to shop talk about requisitions and the politics of their expedition.

"Hey, Sam."

Sam smiled wider, her so called 'Carter grin' lighting up the screen. "Hey, sir,"

"Sam, honestly; we're pretty much the same rank now, if you wanna look past the whole 'friends for 10 years so far' thing," Jack's voice came over the connection loud and clear and few of the closer techs chuckled to themselves.

Sam sighed happily, forgetting about the problems currently plaguing her, "Sorry, **Jack**; how are things on earth? Did you destroy your office yet?"

"Nope, it's still intact; though there have been some renovations…" Jack said, holding up a picture to the video camera.

Sam could make out the television cabinet with the telltale signs of wires crisscrossing down the front. Jack's smiling face came into view as she giggled.

"Jack, you didn't."

"Oh, I did; Xbox 360 in my office!" Jack announced, chuckling to himself as Sam rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"And how's Teal'c? Recovered from his adventures with Ronon?"

"Oh he's right as purple rain, kicking some new recruit butts in the gyms as we speak." Jack answered with a knowing smile. "Any chance there's video of this Ronon guy taking on T?"

Sam shook her head with a grin, "Not a chance Jack; how's Cam? And Daniel and Vala?"

Jack smiled, nodding along, "They're good, they're good; Cam's got his little adventure team, pulling the spacemonkey along for the ride. Vala's following them around, as usual, al_though_," he stretched out the last word, purposely drawing her in.

"Although, _what_?" Sam asked, desperate for gossip about her friends.

"Sources say Daniel and Vala were seen in a _pretty friendly_ embrace in Daniel's office, if you catch my drift," He winked dramatically and Sam laughed out loud.

"No _way_,"

"Oh, yes. It spread like a bush fire in summer." Jack grinned.

"I miss you guys," Sam sighed.

"Oh, don't worry; we'll come visit soon. Now, down to business; how's Pegasus?"

Sam sighed again, "We have a situation; I doubt you've actually read my entire report, so I'll tell you in person now. Well, sort of,"

Jack raised an eyebrow, "Of course I read your report."

Sam gave him a pointed look. "You know me too well," he continued.

"Elizabeth Weir was found on another planet, alive and nanite free. There was an encounter with more human form replicators, which we thought we destroyed, and we blew up half of the other city. In doing so, we may have caused a little malfunction in the nanites and they're now attacking Dr. Weir with everything they've got, which thankfully, isn't much."

Jack whistled low, "Wow, so you sent McKay and Sheppard to find a way to fix it, right?"

"Yeah, they're there now."

Jack heard the note of worry in her voice, the note of doubt. "They can do this Sam. You guys'll get her home,"

Sam nodded, smiling a little. "I better get back to work; my reports are done but now I have some research to wade through. I'll see you this time next month, Jack. Miss you,"

"Miss you too. And Sam?"

Sam's hand hovered over the disconnect. "Yeah?"

Jack hesitated, "Never mind. Later," he mock saluted and Sam cut the connection. With new resolve, she went back into her office and got back to work.

* * *

"Rodney, how are you doing with locating the device?" John asked Rodney over the radio.

"_So far, nothing; but we've still got another tower to go before all hope is totally and completely lost_,"

John rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Great to know you're being confidant, McKay." He grumbled, rubbing his hands together to ward off the biting cold. They'd contacted Atlantis and gotten more blankets and supplies and moved into the nearest tower's base, that mostly resembled a lobby more than anything else.

Elizabeth currently had 3 blankets tucked over and under her body with an extra 2 over her feet and chest with a final heavy one over her up to her chin.

Jennifer huddled next to him while the marines took turns watching for the return of the other group. They passed the time talking quietly to themselves and shaking limbs to heat up.

"This is going to work out, right?" Jennifer asked, blowing on her fingers. She was wearing a pair of thin gloves.

"Yeah," John answered, wrapping an arm around her parka clad figure and rubbing her opposite arm to generate some heat. Jennifer appreciated it and used her foot to pull the rolling stretcher closer to check the IV.

"Okay." She poked at the IV bag and stiffened. "This isn't good,"

John heard alarm bells going off in his head, "What is it?"

"The IV, _it's starting to freeze_,"

"What's in the IV?"

"Cocktail of anesthetic and some other meds; without it, she could wake up or start her convulsions again or any other of the numerous complications of this running out." Jennifer said, panic creeping into her voice.

John unwrapped his arm and gripped her fingers on the hand closest to him. He pushed his fingers around his radio and called for Rodney.

"_Don't worry, we found it, it'll take a little while to get back to you and fix it though_," came Rodney's voice.

"Better double time it, Rodney, we have some problems over here,"

* * *

Wherever she was, she was warm. And numb. Which was good, considering the ringing had just about split her head before.

She still felt wrong, somehow, still felt like something wasn't right, but she was too tired to try and figure out what; she felt so heavy, she couldn't fight it anymore.

She felt herself slipping deeper into the welcoming black nothing of comfort. She didn't want to fight, it was too tiring. And besides, there wasn't anything hurting her anymore.

She felt a distant prick, but before she'd even registered it, she'd forgotten it had happened. She was just so comfortable…

* * *

"She's fading," Jennifer called, her voice carrying the hard edge of a doctor now.

"Fight, Elizabeth,** fight**! Stay_ awake_! Elizabeth!" John called, inches from Elizabeth's relaxing face. He hadn't even noticed how tense she'd been since her last fit.

"What's happening?"

"It's like, she's just giving up." Jennifer said, not knowing how else to explain it. She pushed a needle of adrenaline into Elizabeth and took her pulse again, feeling a small increase in heart rate before it evened out again.

"Elizabeth, come on, wake up, just one more time, please," John spoke in her ear, the only part of her he would approach as Jennifer laid out more supplies to try to bring Elizabeth back.

Jennifer stopped for a moment. "John, keep talking to her," she ordered, holding her breath and Elizabeth's wrist.

"What?" John asked, looking up from Elizabeth's still face.

"**Keep talking to her**!"

"Elizabeth? Can you hear me? You need to wake up, open your eyes, you need to fight! I know you don't like fighting or violence in particular, but this is one instance where you're gonna have to get over that _real quick_,"

Jennifer took Elizabeth's heart rate and looked to John, a small smile on her face. "It's working; it's like she can hear you,"

* * *

She was comfortable, but something was pulling her back. Towards the pain and the ringing and the spasms. What was it?

It sounded good. Whatever it was. She wavered over the darkness, weighing her options and fighting to keep her eyes open in her mind.

_'I have to go back,'_

She forced herself towards the light, the ringing, the pain, the cold and…the heat of something, comforting, on her cheek…

* * *

okay! so, this is new and i've got the next few parts pretty much out right now, just a matter of making it readable ;) lol please, as always, review! it's appreciated so much! thanks so much in advance!

Home to Me


	13. Chapter 13

**ok,** so this is a short, very short, kind of teaser for the next chapter. i thought i would give you a little something to think until i finished the next few chapters to post all at once.

enjoy!

**Home to Me**

* * *

"Elizabeth? Can you hear us?" John asked as Rodney set up the device behind them.

"John?" The voice was thin and raspy, but it was hers and it was beautiful to John.

"Good, good, Dr. Weir can you move your toes for me? Good, and your fingers? Perfect, you scared us, you know," Jennifer sighed in relief, checking Elizabeth's vitals.

"John, what's going on?" Elizabeth asked, voice getting a little stronger. She became aware of the cold biting at her nose now.

"We're back in Terradyn," John answered, looking over his shoulder at Rodney who was hurrying now, sneaking glances their way.

"What? Why?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes falling shut again.

"Stay with us, Liz, you need to stay awake," John said. "There was a complication with your nanites,"

"But they're…" she trailed off, eyes slipping closed. John gripped her hand under the blankets and squeezed calling her name. "They're gone," she finished, forcing her eyes open again.

"No, they were just deactivated by a form of radiation, but the treatment didn't get to finish," John explained, looking over his shoulder again.

"They said they took them out." Elizabeth gasped out, trying to take in the cold air.

"Well, not all of them then," Rodney piped up, moving toward them with the completed machine.

"It's finished?" John asked warily, eyeing the patch job.

"Well, more or less. It'll either eradicate the nanites' hold over her completely or kill her instantly. The plus side is, whichever it is it'll be quick," Rodney said, looking away to avoid John's death glare.

"**Rodney**!"

"Would you like me to _lie to you_?" Rodney whined back, already pushing the device closer to Elizabeth's weak body.

"Yes," came her voice from beneath the blankets.

"Okay, then you'll be fine in a few minutes," Rodney answered, pushing the button before John could stop him.

Elizabeth just held her breath, waiting for something to happen. Darkness crept in as she released her breath and took another icy inhale. The darkness kept coming. From somewhere in the distance, she could hear Jennifer's voice shouting. There was movement around her, but she couldn't really feel it.

She focused on Jennifer's voice and picked out two words that made her regret trying so hard to listen.

"She's seizing!"

* * *

dun dun dun! lol yeah im mean. any guesses as to which is happening, the cure or the death? gold stars whoever guesses right!

plz plz review! they make my world go round!

special thanks to those that have reviewed in the past!


	14. Chapter 14

**Charmed225 - **thanks so much!

**STLucy - **you're right! thanks for the review!

**Jenne - **lol yes! thanks for ur response! i hope you like the next bit.

**Savertin - **lol or i won't survive the next chapter, that's not nice! lol here's the next part!

**saphiretwin369 - **here you go!

**sparklyshimmer2010 - **calm down! here's the next chapter!

**queenofatlantis - **here's the next update

thanks to all of you reading and reviewing! here's the next chunk, and i really hope you like it!

enjoy!

**Home to Me**

* * *

"_She's seizing!"_

John felt like his heart had stopped as Jennifer called out the two words he had grown to hate over the past couple days.

"Do something." He all but demanded.

"_Wait_!" Rodney yelled over the chaos erupting around them all. Everyone froze at his shout.

"Why, Rodney, she's **seizing**! Something's wrong!" John turned on the scientist.

"Look at the device, it's turning colour, green is **good** right?" Rodney gestured to the machine; there was a dark bar along the top rim of the machine. It was slowly changing from the invisible dark red to a light orange and then yellow, now it was fading to a green.

"It's slowing down," Jennifer said, still tensed over Elizabeth's slightly jerking body with a needle of medication and sedative.

The band's colour change slowed and the shade lightened slowly before their eyes.

"This must be where it got cut off before; it's monitoring the function of the nanites under the effect of the radiation!" Rodney explained a speed that was almost missed.

"So, what? We just _wait_?" John asked anxiously, flicking his gaze from the machine to the woman on the gurney next to him.

"I think so, look, she's stopping." Jennifer was right; Elizabeth slowly settled, limbs relaxing and features settling into a calm expression of sleep.

"So we wait," John said, settling down himself, trying to calm his tightly coiled reflexes.

"We wait," Jennifer echoed, hunkering down with a blanket next to Elizabeth. Ronon drifted over next to her and the doctor held open the blanket. Ronon dropped down next to her and they wrapped each other up.

"Body heat," Ronon grunted out as John looked over at them, amusement crossing his strained features.

* * *

"Why can't we leave now, Malei?" Malei looked at the other woman who'd spoken, with the blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Because, Leya, the others will not be back until light. If we leave them, they will be discovered and everything we've worked for lost with them."

"They're only doing surveillance, why are they taking until light to spy on those in Terradyn."

Malei returned her gaze to the starry sky. "We need to find out if Rodney was able to find the device and revive Elizabeth."

"If he has?"

"Then we may have to add a step to our plan."

"To do what?"

Malei's cool gaze refocused on Leya. "Kill the humans."

* * *

John was awake at the first hint of light outside the tower. There was some good news at least; the snow had stopped and the wind was less biting. On the other hand, the band of the device hadn't changed much since the previous night's soft green.

"Morning," Jennifer rasped from the other side of Elizabeth.

John stretched slightly and turned to see the doctor watching him sleepily.

"Morning; did you sleep at all last night?"

Jennifer blinked slowly before refocusing carefully, "No, everyone fell asleep around the same time, so I figured I'd take the watch duty."

"You need to sleep, how else are you going to save our butts when we get shot or something?" John smirked half-heartedly.

"Nice, thanks colonel."

"I'll watch her, you sleep. You've even got your own space heater." John gestured to Ronon who was fast asleep on Jennifer's shoulder.

Jennifer blushed and snuggled deeper into the blankets.

John took up a more comfortable position and settled in for the sunrise.

* * *

There was fire; it burned the horizon and scorched everything. Buildings and tents burned alike, people ran in every direction, trying to put it out. There hadn't been any deaths yet, but the morning was early.

Freya rushed from her rooms, hurrying out into the cool morning as flames licked at the rugs and tapestries.

"What has happened?" she called to the nearest guard. The man turned and passed a bucket to a passing man.

"Fire broke out from the pit, the lower tents caught fire and went up fast. It's just spreading now and we're not sure by what means. Please, stay back from the flames," he was gone, off running for more water.

Freya looked around and in the distance, on the very edge of camp, there was a small group of figure standing just inside the settlement. The trees hid them from view but Freya was looking for them.

They made no move to help, or to flee. There was no doubt in her mind it exactly what they'd planned for.

* * *

A loud beep tore John from his gazing; the sun was up and the snow was shimmering outside the tower lobby. Marines were rousing each other and starting a fire for breakfast while Rodney was snoring away in the corner under the rest of the blankets.

"Hey, **McKay**! The thing's beeping!" John tossed one of his power bars at Rodney, who jerked awake.

"What? _Huh_? No lemons,** please they're after me**,"

"**Rodney**!" John hollered. Jennifer and Ronon were startled awake as well and they separated, Jennifer attending to Elizabeth while Ronon went to help with the fire.

"Alright, alright, I'm up and awake, I'm here. Ah, it looks like it's completed. All she needed was a few more hours," Rodney marveled, pressing buttons and scanning the device.

"So, she's fine now?" John asked tentatively.

Jennifer nodded, setting down her equipment, "She seems fine, everything's normal."

"Thumbs up here," Rodney commented offhandedly as he continued messing around with the device.

"Alright, if we're done with that machine, Rodney, shut it off; I don't want it reversing anything or nothing crazy like that," John ordered, leaning over to check on Elizabeth.

"John?" Elizabeth's voice was raspy and dry and quiet from beneath the blankets.

"Elizabeth, jeez, you had us in a little bit of a panic," John smirked at her, peeling away a layer of blankets so she could move a little.

"What's happened?" she asked, looking around. "When did you get here? I thought I died, from falling out of the window, and there was all this, shouting and…"

"Shh, it's alright, Dr. Weir, everything's fine. We'll explain everything when we get back to Atlantis." Jennifer quieted her patient.

Elizabeth lay still again, looking up at the ceiling and then at John as he leaned over her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, concern still colouring his voice.

"I'm **starving**,"

He smiled.

* * *

Freya moved quickly through the chaos of the camp, rushing towards the group of people on the edge of the forest.

"You, stop! _What have you done here_?" she demanded, stopping in front of the retreating group of strangers.

"We've done nothing," Malei said in an innocent tone.

"Nonsense; my sister is dead and you are responsible, you have created destruction in Terradyn and are doing so now! Explain yourselves!" Freya demanded, her voice strong, despite the fear trickling up and down her spine.

Malei leaned close to the old woman, a calm expression on her face. "We have to explain nothing to you, old woman; stay out of our way before others get hurt."

Freya felt anger outgrow the fear and something rushed through her veins that she hadn't felt in a long while. The air around her crackled and the strangers looked a little confused.

The wind picked up and the trees themselves seemed to shift and curl around their feet, roots twisting of their own accord.

"What are you doing?" Malei whispered dangerously, though fear and awe leaked through.

Freya felt power rip through her and the group in front of her flew back into the trees, crashing through branches and trunks and bushes as they went, snapping them like toothpicks.

The old woman collapsed under such a display of power. She lay looking up at the brightening sky, feeling her limbs growing heavy. Her eyes slipped shut and she slept, deep and dreamless.

* * *

hmmm...theories anyone?

you know the drill; review!! please! they make me want to write every single day!

thanks to all of you in advance for reviewing and i really hope you all liked this!

Juliet


	15. Chapter 15

WOW. okay, it's been like, forever since i updated, but it's been beyond crazy and i had enough trouble just catching a moment to read and write never mind trying to post it up! anyway, this story is almost done, so any of you still left reading it are extremely patient and i appreciate it! :)

enjoy!

Home to Me Ch.15

* * *

"So, now what?" Rodney asked Ronon. The two men sat at the front door, so to speak, standing their guard shift.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, can we just leave, or…?" Rodney asked a little guiltily.

Ronon turned to look at him, eyebrow raised.

"What? It's a simple question!" Rodney defended himself, sounding indignant.

"Pipe down out here, someone's gonna hear you," John's voice came from behind them and Rodney jumped while Ronon just shook his head in amusement.

"Jeez, Sheppard, you need to tie a bell around your neck or something because you're going to give someone a heart attack one of these days." Rodney said, annoyed.

"I'll take it into consideration, Rodney; how's the shift going?" he asked Ronon.

"It's quiet; too quiet, even for snow. Wait," Ronon answered, tensing as a dark shape approached from the direction of the main gates and therefore the forest.

John and Ronon reached for their weapons while Rodney fumbled for his, eyes wide.

"Hello?" the darkness called. It was a young man, and it didn't sound like one of the doubles. But then, they could always change their shape.

Rodney looked up, beyond the figure, and could have sworn on his life that dark shapes raced away across the rooftop.

"Who's there?" Ronon asked, raising his weapon higher and taking aim. Behind the figure, a larger, darker mass took shape and came slowly into view.

"I come from the settlement, beyond the forest; we're in need of assistance. Freha has been injured,"

John lowered his weapon at that; these replicators hadn't produced any others, so this group might be telling the truth.

"Ronon, put it away and help them," John said, already moving toward the group he could now tell was carrying Freha on a stretcher-type contraption. "Rodney, go and find Dr. Keller,"

"What happened to you?" Ronon asked, holstering his weapon and moving to help carry the stretcher; the men already doing so were tiring under the weight of the elder, the biting cold and the deepness of the snow, despite that it was melting. There was a group of about 30 people behind them, ranging from other elders to young children wrapped in blankets.

"We were attacked, by the replicator doubles; they set fire to our camp. Freha managed to fight them off, but now we don't know exactly where they are," the young man who had bravely come first answered Ronon.

Rodney heard something above them now and looked up as John and Ronon talked with the incoming people. There were now 3 figures on the roofs across from them. Another on the next one over to the left.

"Uh, Sheppard?"

"Not now, Rodney; I told you to find Jennifer?" John didn't even look over as Ronon finally got a handle on the stretcher.

"No, John, _look_," Rodney's attention was now clearly focused on the shapes across from them. He kept is voice down and his head lowered even so they wouldn't think he'd seen them, whoever they were.

This was **not** going to end well.

"Rodney, you're in the way." John said, finally looking over at him as Ronon and the others tried to shuffle past him into the massive tower.

"Sheppard, I know you're annoyed with me right now, but you need to listen to me! Look, slowly, look at the roof of the house across from us, and the one to the left. Do you see them?"

John frowned and turned back to Rodney, face tense. "Get everyone inside, slowly, and get them quiet and settled. Let's go."

Together, they entered the tower and settled everyone down. They began spreading the news that the replicators were here, and that they should prepare for a fight.

* * *

"I want to help," Elizabeth said from her place next to John.

"No, Elizabeth, we just got you back from this kind of mess. No way I'm throwing you back into it. Especially since you're still not fully recovered." John said resolutely.

"Well, put them back; the nanites, you can put them back, reactivate, reprogram them like before. We can do this," Elizabeth said, turning to Rodney.

"You know-," He began. John cut him off.

"**No**, Rodney, you are _not_ helping her do this. Elizabeth, you don't have to do this; we can find another way."

"No, there's no time, they're literally right outside our door; what else can we do in such short time? Rodney, let's go, put them back," Elizabeth held out a hand to Rodney.

"No, McKay, stay over there," John intercepted Rodney, pushing Elizabeth's hand down.

"Do I have to make it an order?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. John turned.

"Wouldn't do any good, considering Col. Carter is ranking leader of Atlantis at the moment." He whispered to her carefully, wanting her to back down but not to crumble completely over the fact she'd really lost everything.

"Please, I can do it. _We_ can do it." Elizabeth implored.

John was silent for a few moments before turning to face the rest of the people gathered in the room.

"What do you think Dr. Keller?" He finally asked. Jennifer jumped a little at having this kind of attention and decision on her.

"Um, well, it would be a little taxing by the time this thing was over, if the nanites are even able to be 'put back'."

"Well, this machine is radiation, the few that are left, deactivated of course, would multiply pretty quick and we could control them fairly easily. This could work, if we did it properly."

John weighed his options and looked to Ronon as well. The Satedan shrugged and nodded eventually, quickly noticing that 5 replicators against 1 replicator and an army of angry people were better odds than 5 replicators against an angry army of people by themselves.

"Let's do it." He said.

John sighed heavily and shook his head. "Fine, Jennifer, Rodney, Elizabeth and I are going to go upstairs; Ronon, you stay here with the marines and watch them, discreetly."

They split, Ronon and the marines strategizing and the settlers making quick work of getting everyone out of the way, the men and a few of the women moving forward to help while some men and women stayed back, pressed against the back half of the room with the children.

* * *

Jennifer and Rodney were setting up their respective equipment when John pulled Elizabeth to the other side of the small, windowless, stone room.

"John?"

He stared deep into her eyes before pulling her close and kissing her softly, deeply, before pulling back and squeezing her into a tight hug. "You'd better come out of this again or I'll have to kill you myself."

Elizabeth smiled into his neck and wrapped her arms around his back. "I will. The same can be said for you."

Rodney cleared his throat and the two pulled apart, faces flushing slightly. "We're ready over here,"

Jennifer motioned for Elizabeth to sit on the gurney/stretcher. "We don't know if it's gonna hurt or not," she offered.

Elizabeth swallowed before squaring her shoulders and settling on the mattress. "No matter what I say, you need to make sure you finish this Rodney,"

Rodney nodded a little fearfully and fiddled with the machine a little more, checking the final few readings on his data pad.

"Okay, I think we're ready here,"

The machine they'd used before had been lugged up the stairs and sat on the floor next to Elizabeth's stretcher.

"We should uh, get out of the room; I don't know what kind of effect this setting will have on the rest of us," Rodney said quietly, the first out of the room.

Jennifer followed after hooking up the heart monitor to Elizabeth quickly.

John lingered a moment, giving her one final look before leaving as well, pulling the heavy wooden door shut behind him.

* * *

Elizabeth sat alone in the room, the coldness creeping up on her. The hum of the machine made her heart leap into her throat. Immediately, she felt a light numbness creep over her body, starting at the top of her head and melting over her. When it reached her toes, the sensation turned from syrupy numb to warm and tingly; it wasn't so bad, really.

She regretted it the moment she thought it. Following the warmth was pain, white hot and searing through every bone and muscle and vein she had in her body; it burned it's way from her insides out, making her scream until her throat was raw with it.

She vaguely heard John yelling her name, pounding on the door, could hear Jennifer and Rodney telling him to stop, to wait it out.

Eventually, she felt tears streaming down her face; she thought she was going to die right there.

All of a sudden, a wave of relief washed through her in the form of cool sensation, leaking down her body. Her eyes opened from her squeezing them shut and her muscles unclenched. The room was the same, everything was the same.

All she could hear was her ragged breathing; but nothing hurt anymore, just the lingering sensation of discomfort.

Then she heard the pounding on the door; splintering wood as John forced himself in and rushed to her side.

"Elizabeth?"

She could read the worry in his eyes and smiled thinly, aware that the tears were drying in salty trails on her cheeks.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't touch me, not yet," Elizabeth said as John reached up to wipe away her tears.

Rodney pulled out his sensor and scanner and Jennifer looked over the monitors and both concluded that she was fine and carrying the active nanites again.

And that any human that touched her would attract them too.

"They're a little wild, but they're tamable," Rodney reported, already half way through the code to control the small machines.

"How long did it take?" Elizabeth asked, getting her breathing under control.

"A little over 20 minutes, the replicators haven't moved from their positions yet," Jennifer asked, correctly interpreting the question.

"Then there's still a chance this will work to our advantage." Elizabeth stated, getting up. The ground shook under her feet as they hit the stone floor.

John, Rodney and Jennifer looked at her in shock as Elizabeth looked at her feet; the stone around them was crumbled and indented to her footprint.

"What the-,"

"Sheppard?" Ronon had come up the stairs and was staring at the little craters now too. "_Wow_."

"They're **supercharged**; this machine wasn't supposed to work this way." Rodney said in a tone of voice John knew all too well; a kind of voice with a little panic and little pressing urgency woven in for discomfort.

"Rodney?" John asked, injecting warning into his voice. Elizabeth looked up at the scientist, a little fear and awe on her face.

"The machine was made to suck the energy out of them, zap them, not juice them up again; we've just given Elizabeth something like, super powers. Only these ones will kill her; if they stay this strong too long, they'll completely destroy her."

"So now we have a small window of opportunity to work with on top of everything else?" Jennifer asked, incredulous. This was probably why she hated going off world so much now; everything go so darn complicated when she left home.

"Looks like a very small window; an hour tops," Rodney answered in almost-horror, looking up at Elizabeth.

She set her face and schooled her features to a look of cool confidence. "Then let's get going,"

* * *

hmm

review plz! i would appreciate, and im still sorry for making you wait so long! but i'm back, i swear this time ;)

thanks,

Juliet

PS. im not getting paid to say this, but you all REALLY REALLY REALLY gotta see the Dark Knight...it's amazing!


	16. Chapter 16

THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED!! you guys really rock and i really appreciate the support and feedback you give me!

here's the next part people!

enjoy!

* * *

Home to Me Ch.16

* * *

This was a bad idea. A very, very, **very** bad idea. Probably the _worst_ idea they'd come up with a long, long time.

This was such a _ridiculously_ bad idea.

"John, you have to get out of the way."

No. There was no way he was moving. This was a bad idea.

"Sheppard, they're gonna attack soon,"

Not even Ronon's voice was going to force him into rational thinking. This wasn't a rational idea. It was a **bad one**.

"Uh, Col. Sheppard? We really don't have time for this,"

That maybe piqued his attention a little. But then, if push came to shove, he could always make Rodney and Jennifer do what he wanted.

"Sheppard?"

Nope. Not moving.

"This is a bad idea."

Elizabeth sighed, rolling her eyes before setting her shoulders again and steeling her nerves. "John Sheppard get out of my way or I will move you myself."

John hesitated at that, knowing full well that she could if she wanted to. But in the end, he held firm, decided on the fact this remarkably bad idea had gone this far.

"You wouldn't," he decided to push the boundaries a little.

"Uh, Sheppard, maybe you shouldn't sa-," Rodney started.

He was cut off by Elizabeth surging forward, grasping John by his lapels and forcing him back out of the doorway, past a stunned Ronon and against the far, stone wall, his feet dangling a few feet off the floor, despite their height difference.

"Um, okay, so you would. You can let go now." Elizabeth didn't release him. "Elizabeth? Rodney?" John was a little panicky now. This was a supremely bad idea! Why the hell would they turn these nanites back on?

"Hang on, she's just frozen while I reprogram…and…there, Elizabeth?" Rodney looked up from his data pad.

"Will you let me help now?" Elizabeth said, looking up at him with her big green-brown eyes and her hopeful, determined face and her fingers gripping his shirt incredibly tightly.

"You better be careful or I'll-,"

"Kill me yourself. We've been over this, Colonel. Now, I'm going to put you down, and then go and kick the asses of the monsters destroying my people." Elizabeth said, a steely glint to her eye.

"Alright then," John said, trying to muster up as much dignity as possible while still suspended a few feet in the air by Elizabeth.

Elizabeth set him down gently and moved off down the corridor, gently now, not creating the thunder footsteps she had before.

"We should go-,"

"Yeah, following would be good,"

"Yeah,"

They rushed after Elizabeth in time to see her launch herself out into the snow and cold, and in time to hear the shouts as the other replicators landed firmly in front of her.

John and Ronon had their weapons, along with the marines and the settlers ready to fight.

"What have we here? Survived it all, have you?" the leader taunted, having taken on Elizabeth's appearance and voice again.

John winced internally at the cruel amusement in the voice, whether it was coming from his Elizabeth or not; her voice should never sound like that.

"Well, our girl's a lot more durable than you think," he retorted, aiming his weapon and seeing Ronon and the marines do the same. Some of the settlers were a little shocked at first, looking from the woman on their side, their leader essentially, to the mirror opposite a few feet away.

"We'll see about that," she launched herself at Elizabeth, but Elizabeth was faster with her supercharged nanites, striking her to the ground with a force that set the surrounding area echoing.

"And here I was thinking you were opposed to violence," Teyla's clone said, looking a little more warily at Elizabeth.

"Try me," Elizabeth said daringly, the nanites exerting a little more control than anybody thought.

The doubled Elizabeth was out cold on the ground, a fact nobody seemed to miss. Elizabeth knelt beside her and reached into her mind.

_"What have you done to me?"_ the double asked, more than a little pissed and amusingly, a little afraid_._

_"What your kind has done to us for far too long. This is where your campaign of terror ends."_

Elizabeth concentrated and withdrew, seconds before the double twitched and burst into tiny replicator bits, disappearing into the snow. They were black, as if they'd been charred.

The remaining replicators looked astounded and more than a little apprehensive as Elizabeth stood and looked them all in the eye.

Then all **hell** broke loose. The replicators attacked all at once, felling more than a few marines and a few settlers as well before Ronon managed to stun his double enough times to restrain until Elizabeth could destroy it as well.

John's double was almost to the tower before Rodney, the brave little toaster that he was, whipped out his reserved gun and fired off enough rounds to push the replicator back into Elizabeth who destroyed him quickly.

The Rodney double rushed Elizabeth while the Teyla double powered through the remaining fighting humans, doing quite a bit of damage. Replicator Rodney got a hold of Elizabeth and forced his hand into her mind, squeezing for all it was worth.

Nobody would know what Elizabeth felt, but they saw Rodney twitch and shudder before Elizabeth disintegrated him, turning tiredly to find the rest of the humans fighting for their lives. The Ronon double escaped just as Elizabeth and John destroyed the Teyla double and Elizabeth was sent flying, Replicator Ronon giving chase and a swift kick to the ribs. Elizabeth coughed blood before she was on her feet, lifting the other replicator and bringing him down hard, shattering the bones in his legs.

He wouldn't have time to heal before she destroyed him too, ending the replicator doubles for what they hoped was the final time.

There were a few dead, many badly wounded. Some of the reserve marines ran ahead with some of the settlers who were a little better off and dialed the gate to get reinforcements and medical supplies and support for Jennifer.

Elizabeth saw her friends safe, mourned for those lost, and felt sadness at having taken the lives of the replicator doubles, despite that they were killers themselves. The Teyla double was right; she was opposed to violence.

"John?" she called. John looked up and turned at her weak sounding voice. It hadn't been an hour, barely even half, but she was feeling the effects of the super juiced nanites. They were eating away at her strength, wanting her to give up so they could take over and do as they were programmed to do beyond Rodney's restraints.

"Elizabeth, are you alright?"

His voice was worried, that much she could tell, but it sounded far away, almost as if he were calling to her across a snowy field.

Her vision blurred and she felt the ground melt from beneath her and then John's strong arms around her broke her fall.

John had been right. This was a bad idea. A **very, very, very** bad idea.

* * *

Formay, Edyn and Kennyth were allowed back to Terradyn a few days later, their city undergoing rebuilding, with additional buildings for the people of the settlement and more permanent structures by the second gate for more comfortable living even through the white season.

Rodney and Radek helped set up a more stable communication line with a hybrid system of Earth and Terradyn components that would 10 times better than the first one had.

Freha recovered slowly, under the nursing of Jennifer and her staff and those wounded in the fight with the replicators returned to strength slowly as well. Those who had died were either taken back to Atlantis to go back to Earth or were buried. Fortunately, there were not many casualties.

The only cloud casting a shadow over the rebuilding was Elizabeth's continuing unconsciousness; Jennifer had reassured them all that Rodney had turned the nanites off in time, that the machine had done its job and zapped most of them. Elizabeth wasn't even considered half-replicator anymore, only a small part, and the small part wasn't keeping her alive this time.

Jennifer had told them all repeatedly that Elizabeth was just catching up on her sleep, resting, recovering in her own time after all the stress of the past, well, almost year. She would wake up when she was good and ready and their Elizabeth again.

Kennyth had returned from Terradyn on the 15th day of the rebuilding and sat with Elizabeth in her room in Atlantis, having been moved after the diagnosis completed.

"Elizabeth, your doctor says you can hear me, and I am glad, because I want to tell you that I am grateful for all you did for Edith. She always wanted a daughter."

The heart monitor beeped out of rhythm for a second and Elizabeth took a deep breath, a sigh, before stirring, turning onto her side to face Kennyth.

Jennifer came in as Kennyth smiled and smoothed a hand through Elizabeth's now wild curls.

"How is she today?" Jennifer asked with a smile at the old man.

"She's waking up, I think. She had not moved before, right?" Kennyth had such hope in his eyes that Jennifer had to grin and nod her head.

Kennyth smiled a grandfatherly smile and pulled his hand through her curls again. "Maybe you should fetch that Sheppard fellow, for when she wakes up, hm?"

"You mean John? Why do you say that?" Jennifer asked, untangling Elizabeth's IV and oxygen tube, eventually pulling it out and unhooking it completely.

"I have seen the way he looks at her, and the way she spoke of home, I knew there was someone looking for her," Kennyth winked and Jennifer chuckled, adjusting the IV more and thanking Elizabeth for turning to her left side, leaving the IV relatively loosely hanging.

"I'll go and find him." Jennifer smiled as she left, squeezing Elizabeth's hand as she went.

"Hear that? Your man is coming to make sure he's the first thing you see when you wake up." Kennyth whispered conspiratorially to Elizabeth's slumbering form.

* * *

He couldn't take it anymore. He was going to _snap_ if she didn't wake up soon. It was killing him having her so quiet and still all the time. Of course, she was kind of like that before, all calm and reassuring and not-brash like him. But this was different! Unnerving, even.

If Keller didn't come and tell him she was awake soon he was gonna-

"John?"

It was Keller!

"Yeah, Doc?" John answered nonchalantly.

"Elizabeth might be waking up any time now, if you wanted to-,"

"Thanks, Jennifer!" John called he practically sprinted from the room.

* * *

yay! things are looking up!

as always, plz leave a review! any kind of review, tell me how the weather is where you are, even. it's raining here, which sucks a little, but hey, what can you do?

reviews are love!

Juliet


	17. Chapter 17

alright! here's the next bit, sadly, it's coming to an end soon, but it's been a great ride with all of you! thanks to all who took the time to red and review!

enjoy!

* * *

Home to Me

* * *

She felt good. Just floating somewhere between awake and asleep, in that comfortable void of soft darkness, she felt relaxed and rested.

Something was calling her. _Oh_, some_one_ was calling her. They sounded anxious, impatient.

Who was being impatient with her? She was the one who'd just had the 'adventure' of a lifetime. Surely the few hours sleep she'd just had couldn't be _too_ long, could it?

There was a warm touch now, a soothing, warm touch that melted over her fingers and spread up her arm in a way she'd never thought possible. What _was_ that? She decided to investigate.

She kept her eyes shut, hoping that once she discovered what this wonderful sensation was, she could go back to sleep.

The only flaw in her plan being that she couldn't see with her eyes shut.

"This is stupid."

But she could hear.

"What's stupid, Rodney?" this time the voice was gentle, a little amused, female.

"She should be awake. Why isn't she awake? _You said she was waking up_." Rodney's voice was rising in pitch and annoying-ness.

"Shut **up**, Rodney; she can probably hear you right now, saying how stupid she is." Oh, John's voice, wonderfully gruff and warm and right next to her.

"No, no, **no**, I didn't say **she** was stupid, I meant waiting was stupid! Elizabeth, I didn't mean you were stupid!" Rodney said.

She could hear him approach with his sentence.

"Not what it sounded like to me," Another gruff voice, one she'd missed as well, more amusement than John's. Ah, Ronon.

"Shut up!" Rodney whined.

John's chuckle reached her ear and she wanted to smile, but she discovered she still wasn't quite awake enough. Hm. She'd have to fix that.

"Be patient, Rodney; she'll wake up when she's ready. She's going to be fine," This was another female voice, one she could remember hearing once, somewhere…_where_ had she heard it? She sounded nice.

"She doesn't _look_ fine; she _looks_ like she's in a_ coma_." Rodney grumbled.

"She is not in a coma, she is simply resting; she must sleep to repair herself physically and emotionally," Teyla's soft, musical, wise voice broke through the darkness behind her lids.

"You know, with all this noise, it's no wonder she doesn't want to wake up yet," John replied. Something squeezed her hand. John was holding her hand! That's who it was.

Maybe if she focused…she squeezed back and heard John chuckle beside her head, the sound filling her with nothing but happiness. And determination. She wanted to wake up _now_.

With some effort, she wiggled her toes experimentally, feeling them shift under the light blanket. Then her fingers, both hands, feeling John squeeze her fingers again. Why wasn't anybody saying anything?

Maybe they couldn't see the tiny movements. John wanted her to do it on her own…

Next was her throat, she cleared it, although it sounded more like a cough then a simple clear.

"Oh, what was that?" Rodney's franticly excited voice.

Next the mouth, lick the lips, make sure you don't split them when you smile. She felt as if she hadn't had anything to drink in forever.

Alright, big finale. Open your eyes, Elizabeth. Now. Okay, **now**. Count of three, left eye; that's where John is. One, two, _three_.

Her left eye slid open slowly, the light burning them. She squeezed it shut again, still feeling the too-hot sensation up into her brain.

"Hey, dim the lights would you doc?" John asked, some excitement creeping into his voice.

The lights dimmed and Elizabeth cracked open her left eye again and there he was; all spiky hair and disheveled uniform and cocky grin.

The right eye slid open as well and there were her friends, her family, and her room. Teyla's smooth, smiling face; next to her Ronon's proud half-smirk; in front of him a beaming Jennifer Keller with her dimples; Rodney was sitting on the edge of his seat, surprised and anxious look on his face.

"Hey, guys." She managed to push out, already exhausted again.

"Hey, Elizabeth," John said from next to her, letting go of her fingers. Why?

"Have a nice nap?" he continued, smirk on his face and laughter in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah. How long?" she croaked out, missing his warm fingers already.

"Um, about two weeks," Rodney replied, sinking back into his chair.

"_What_?" Elizabeth asked, trying to sit up and failing miserably.

"Alright, everyone out, you guys can come visit tomorrow morning. She needs to rest," Jennifer said.

"Rest? I've been asleep for two weeks," Elizabeth protested around a yawn.

"My point exactly," Jennifer smirked. "Out, all of you."

John met her eyes and smiled at her warmly, making her feel even more sleepy.

With a chorus of _'get better'_ and _'we miss you'_, the team filed out. Her room was empty except for Jennifer and the woman she couldn't quite remember with blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"Dr. Weir, it's nice to see you well and back on Atlantis." The woman spoke kindly, honesty and sincerity filling her voice. So she wasn't from the IOA…

"You probably don't remember me, Colonel Samantha Carter, formerly of SG1 out of Stargate Command at Cheyenne Mountain? In Colorado-,"

"Springs, right, the negotiations. I remember you, and Dr. Jackson?" she asked. Elizabeth was tiring and fast.

"Yeah, Daniel Jackson. Anyway, we hope to see you all back on your feet as soon as possible; we've got a lot of people out there in your city waiting to see you." Sam smiled, squeezing the other woman's hands. They were strong hands, Sam's were, but they were gentle with Elizabeth's.

"Bye," Elizabeth said tiredly, feeling Jennifer taking her vitals.

"Night Elizabeth," Jennifer said, pushing something into her IV.

"Night, Jenn...ifer…"

She was out like a light.

* * *

"So how is the good doctor?"

Sam smiled as Jack tossed a ball up and down on his side of the communication.

"She's doing well, woke up for a few minutes last night, saw everyone. She's going to be fine,"

Jack looked at her, "Of course she will be, and didn't I tell you you'd all bring her home?"

Sam smiled and looked away and then back again, "Yes sir,"

"You know Carter, you're going to have to stop calling me sir eventually; you run an off-world city now. There's no 'sir' to that." Jack smirked, tossing the ball up and down again.

"Yes sir," Jack raised an eyebrow, Sam smiled. "Sorry sir,"

Jack smiled and shook his head. "Well, it was worth a try."

"So how's everyone back on Earth? Daniel and Cam and Vala and Teal'c?"

"There all good, Teal'c is still _mightily_ unhelpful about the whole 'future events' thing, which is annoying, but he's just back from visiting Ry'ac, who's also well, before you ask."

Sam smiled and was grateful for the fact that the gate techs chose these times between Earth and Atlantis to take their lunches.

"And Daniel?"

"Daniel's…occupied with a project." Jack replied cryptically, tossing the ball again.

"A project? You're not going to let him get obsessed are you?" Sam worried, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, this kind of project is one of a kind." Jack quipped back, raising a picture to the screen for her to see.

It was a picture of Daniel on one knee in the gate room, otherwise empty save for him and Vala, who was looking amusingly and utterly stunned and speechless.

"Daniel's getting **_married_**!?" Sam asked, stopping herself short of squealing.

"Oh, yeah. Vala's maxing out all kinds of credit cards for the big day. You've been invited, in case you were wondering."

Sam turned sad. "I don't think I can make it, not with Dr. Weir recovering and all the paperwork to get her clearance to stay here, not to mention that the midway station is, well, in millions of tiny pieces."

"There are other ways," Jack said mysteriously, looking at his watch.

"_Atlantis, this is Colonel Ellis, requesting permission to beam in_,"

Sam looked up as the communiqué came over her head set. She looked up in surprise at Jack who was nodding along to himself.

"Sir, I mean, Jack, you, how did you know when-,"

"I'm so Hammond's favourite," Jack teased, waving his fingers at the screen. "See you in a few days," he said before cutting off their communication.

"Uh, permission granted Col. Ellis," Sam managed.

* * *

Elizabeth sat up in bed, reading a book from Jennifer's collection and finishing off her lunch when John came into the room.

"Hey you," John greeted, taking his seat by her bed side.

"John," Elizabeth greeted with a smile, setting down her book.

"How are you doing today?" he asked, stealing the rest of her sandwich.

"Better than yesterday, worse than tomorrow," Elizabeth answered with a wider grin.

"Excellent, so what are we going to do today? A walk around the city, or a trip to the commissary, your old office…"

"I'm glad you came after me, John. All of you. It means a lot." Elizabeth said seriously.

"Of course we came looking for you, Elizabeth. I mean, it was a total fluke we found you on that planet, but I never gave up hope we'd find you somewhere."

Elizabeth smiled warmly at him.

"Of course, my bet was that you'd totally taken over the government of some planet and was leading them into an era of peace," John quipped, biting into the sandwich.

Elizabeth laughed and took the food back, taking a bite herself.

"What do you remember after we left you on the replicator home world?" John asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

Elizabeth swallowed her mouthful of soup and looked out her window, past John.

"Not much, I mean, I can remember they captured me, tried to get information about Atlantis, but of course I knew somehow that you all had managed to land the city and change the location."

John leaned for ward and took her hand, squeezing her fingers carefully.

"Then?"

"I can't remember a whole lot, I think they reprogrammed the nanites, and they tried to control me, but you trying to activate the kill switch did something to them, I don't know what. They malfunctioned and I can remember, trying to take over worlds for myself, but before I could put my first attack into motion, a small rebel faction engaged my small army."

"They blew us out of the sky and I fell to a planet. I guess I fell to Terradyn, because that's the next thing I remember."

John took note of her shaking hands and pale complexion. "Well, you're safe now, and nanites free, so there's no need to worry."

"It's true that Col. Carter is the leader of the Atlantis expedition now?" Elizabeth asked carefully, changing the subject.

"Uh, yeah; so far she's a lot like you, breaks all the rules, pisses off the IOA, saves all our butts. Except, she's not you, just so you know. We all missed you around here."

"She sounds like she's doing a good job,"

"Oh, yeah; I think Ronon's even warming up to her now, too. She saved all your stuff from shipped off right away, so everything from your office is in storage in her extra closet space. Your other stuff is spread out among the rest of our rooms, keeping it safe. We all knew you'd be back," John winked.

There was a chime as someone wanted to enter the room. Elizabeth and John looked up at the door.

"Come in," John called for Elizabeth.

Sam entered the room with a smile and some good news.

"How would you like a trip back to Earth for a wedding?"

Elizabeth and John looked at each other.

* * *

Elizabeth felt excited tingles rush up and down her spine as the ship dropped out of hyperspace above earth, the blue and green planet sitting before her in all its glory.

"Excited?" Came John's voice right next to her ear. A whole new set of shivers ran up and down her spine from his breath against her skin.

"Like you wouldn't believe." She answered.

"Ready?" Sam asked, standing just behind them. Next to her were Ronon and Teyla who had decided to come as well, Teyla's new baby, and Rodney, loaded down with Teyla and the baby's luggage.

"I don't know why we can't just beam this stuff down when we get there," Rodney grumbled for the fifth time in as many minutes.

"We might need it right away," Jennifer explained as she stepped up beside Ronon who casually held her fingers behind their backs.

Rodney shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Ready to beam," Col. Ellis stated, taking a seat in his chair.

"Alright, let's get going," John rubbed his hands together and pulled Elizabeth from the window over to the group.

"To Kansas we go," he whispered to her. She smiled and felt the familiar wave as the beam sent them down to earth.

* * *

yes i know the journey to earth by ship was long and i didnt write much about it, mostly because i'm hoping to reference it later in the next few chapters. so no worries!

anyway, plz review review review! it means a lot to a girl bored to tears over here.

Juliet :)


	18. Chapter 18

OKAY so im sorry it's been so long, but these past few weeks, my summer decided to explode. but, here with an olive branch of peace is a big honkin' chapter!

please review! have faith!!

enjoy!

* * *

Home to Me

* * *

3 weeks on the Daedalus with Elizabeth without the distraction of impending doom, without a threat to their lives, without Rodney running to them and telling them about weird power fluctuations or anomalies in the tracking system. It sounded great, amazing even, in thought. In reality, something had shifted in Elizabeth's perception of John and the whatever-it-is they had going when she'd been found.

John sighed and reclined in the hard plastic chairs of the commissary, watching the streaks of hyperspace fly by out the big glass window. It wasn't that Elizabeth was avoiding him, really, just that she was finding more and more outrageous reasons to not be alone with him.

While he wasn't exactly the reclusive type, he liked his privacy; he wasn't going to make a scene in the middle of lunch and demand an explanation, but it was hard to figure out exactly what it was he'd done to invoke this kind of reaction from her.

"Don't hurt yourself," A voice commented from behind him. John blinked out of his reverie and turned to face Rodney, balancing a tray of food on one hand and carrying his tablet in the other.

"Got enough food there Rodney," John smirked back, checking out Rodney's full tray of chicken, rice, corn, salad, pudding and blue jell-o.

Rodney just glared at him and shoved a forkful of rice into his mouth. "This food is considerably better than the stuff on Atlantis; I'm getting it in while I can." He said around the mouthful.

John just stared at him in confusion; he'd heard the opposite from some people, but dismissed the thought. McKay was McKay.

"So what are you doing here thinking so hard?" Rodney asked in between bites of his chicken.

"Nothing, just, killing time," John answered, snagging the pudding and a spoon from Rodney's tray.

"_Hey_!" Rodney protested before calming down and taking in some corn. "It looks like your sulking." He continued around the bite.

John's attention snapped to Rodney's smug look. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, nothing; just the latest Daedalus gossip." Rodney said, baiting John into a confession.

"I am not _sulking_, Rodney; I'm just, _sitting_." John said, breaking his stared from Rodney's and spooning some chocolate pudding into his mouth.

"Whatever you say; and don't worry about Elizabeth, she'll be fine." Rodney said, focusing his attention on the salad and then back to the chicken. He didn't see John's look of surprise and then incredulity.

"**What**? Who said anything about Elizabeth?" John demanded, shoving aside the pudding. Was he that transparent now?

"Everybody." Rodney answered vaguely, finishing off the chicken and forking up some rice and corn.

"Everybody like _who_?"

"_Dochmer Gellor_," Rodney mumbled around his last mouthful of salad.

"Jeez, Rodney, you're gonna get sick eating that fast; and swallow before you talk. Who told you about Elizabeth?"

Rodney swallowed and looked over John's shoulder. "Her," he gestured with his fork before scooping up the last remains of the forgotten pudding with his fork, at a more sedated pace.

John turned and saw Jennifer entering the commissary with Ronon and Sam for lunch. He glared at her, but nobody noticed. By the time any of the trio could tell he was upset, they were settling around his and Rodney's table.

"Hey, blue jell-o," Sam said, pulling it from Rodney's hungry hands. She stole a spoon from the next table over, still wrapped in its napkin, and spooned out a bit.

"What's got you all glaring?" Jennifer asked, grabbing Rodney's untouched glass of water and taking a gulp.

"Hel-**lo**! This is my _lunch _here, is **nothing** sacred?" Rodney complained, trying to take back his jell-o at least. Sam dodged him and took another spoonful with a smile before responding to a page and leaving, taking the blue dessert with her.

"Nothing's got me glaring, unless you count what you've been telling people about things that aren't your concern," John said, glaring at Jennifer.

"Oh, you mean about Elizabeth?" Jennifer asked innocently, looking up at Ronon and then over at John. John noted that Ronon smirked a little before straightening his expression to one of indifference.

"Everybody's already talking John, might as well get used to it; tight quarters for three weeks? Anything is fair game," she shrugged, taking another sip of water. Rodney glared at her too, prompting another shrug, a sweet smile and the half empty glass as a peace offering.

"What are they saying?" John asked, half fearing the answer.

* * *

"They're saying **what**?" Elizabeth asked Teyla as the women sat with the baby in Teyla's quarters.

Teyla looked uneasy and turned to the baby, "There is talk amongst the crew that you and John have, broken up, and that you two are fighting. They say that because you, _hooked up_ as the phrase goes, you are now awkward around one another." Teyla explained, hesitating over the earth sayings she'd overheard with the gossip.

Elizabeth stood and paced from the bed to the door to the couch and back, around in that circuit, pulling at a stray strand of hair.

"But we didn't, _you know_, and we haven't really...talked, about anything." Elizabeth tried to explain. Teyla nodded in sympathy and smoothed a hand over the little baby's tummy. He gurgled in response.

"Why have you not talked to John about your feelings? Clearly you both care for one another," Teyla asked. She stood and stopped Elizabeth next pass with a hand on her shoulder and smiled gently at her.

"What are you afraid of?" Teyla asked quietly.

Elizabeth looked at Teyla and then away, not able to answer. "I don't know, I just; I was gone so long and he seems, a little different. I'm different. We're just..."

"Different?" Teyla finished with a raised eyebrow and a smile. She smoother her hand down Elizabeth's arm in a comforting gesture.

"John is no longer under your command; for all intents and purposes, you are a civilian on Atlantis until the review of your survival is brought forth. There is nothing stopping you from doing what you wish," she continued.

Elizabeth smiled shakily at the Athosian and turned to the small book case. She scanned the titles, stalling for time before she had to say something in answer.

"War and Peace?" Elizabeth read out loud in half-confusion, half-amusement. "He finished it?"

"Yes, he said it would be a good book for me to read to Torren to help him sleep."

Elizabeth chuckled to herself. "I guess he found it boring then?"

Teyla grinned as well and the women shared a laugh. "He did."

"So what else did I miss? I mean, really; not just you having a baby or Col. Carter taking over. Everything, with everyone. Don't leave anything out," Elizabeth warned, crossing the room again to sit on the bed next to little Torren.

Teyla smiled and sat next to her, "I would not dare to deprive you," she teased.

* * *

It was some hours later, the group scattered throughout the ship, when Col. Carter broadcast that they would be dropping out of hyperspace any minute.

After all the other personnel, supplies and the like were beamed down, John and his team were the last to go. Standing on the bridge was awkward, to say the least.

"Whoever feels the tension say 'aye'," Rodney said, trying to break the wall dividing them up. Jennifer raised her hand and replied with a small 'aye' before ducking and facing the picture the earth formed out the window.

Elizabeth avoided John's stare and instead turned to Teyla and Torren.

"Alright, here we go," Sam announced, approaching the uncomfortable group. Blinding light flashed and they reappeared in the gate room of the SGC, greeted by General O'Neil, Daniel, Vala, Teal'c and Mitchell.

It was flurry of activity from then on, introductions and reunions, congratulations and hugs, not to mention the mission it became to locate where their baggage had been beamed to.

It took numerous trips to the surface on the elevator's part, ferrying the large group up a few at a time with their belongings, minus SG1's and Elizabeth's (she didn't have much, being gone and all).

As it worked out, Sam's apartment had been kept up by SG1 on a rotation, so she, Elizabeth and Teyla along with Torren would stay there, while Daniel and Vala hosted Jennifer, Ronon and John. Rodney stayed with Jack and Teal'c, a joke Jack was sure somebody was playing on him and they would travel in their respective cars.

Needless to say, there wasn't much time for idle conversation and real catching up until breakfast the next morning, having arrived late the night before, earth time.

* * *

"Good morning, new friends," Vala sang as she bounced into the kitchen. Around her, Daniel and John ignored the pep and headed straight for the coffee while Ronon sat in silence at the table, eating the bacon and eggs that Daniel had made while the coffee was brewing.

They grunted a response that Vala took to be a 'good morning' and refused to let it dampen her mood too much.

"Well, isn't _this_ just a rainbow of fun; where's Jennifer? She's got to me more fun than you three in the morning," Vala commented, stealing a piece of bacon from Daniel's fresh plate of food.

"She's still sleeping," Ronon mumbled out between bites of eggs and gulps of orange juice.

Vala raised an eyebrow and a slow smile slid across her face. "And how would we know **that**, Mr. Junior Muscles?"

Ronon looked up at her with a glare before going back to his food.

"Well _alright_ then,"

There was silence, if you didn't include Vala's normal chatter, until Jennifer entered the kitchen, some time later.

"Morning guys," she greeted somewhat cheerfully. She accepted the mug of coffee Daniel handed her and took a seat next to Ronon, taking the last piece of bacon he'd neglected.

"Morning Jennifer," Daniel and John chorused, both on their second cup of coffee and their third helping of food.

"That's more of a response than I got, so you should be more happy then you are," Vala stage whispered, sticking her tongue out at Daniel.

John gave him a look as if to say '_how do you deal with that this early?_' and Daniel replied with a '_because I fell in love with her'_ shrug before turning back to his coffee.

"How did you sleep?" Daniel asked before taking another sip.

Jennifer looked down into the plate Ronon pushed in front of her, having gotten more food mysteriously quickly.

"Thanks," she said quietly to Ronon before looking up at Daniel. "Great, thanks, really comfy," Jennifer replied with a grin, shooting Daniel a thumbs up.

Vala look between the two and smiled conspiratorially at Jennifer, who flushed and looked a little confused.

"What?" she asked.

Vala grinned wider and hopped up from her seat to get dressed. "Nothing, I'm just wondering how far you're going to take this whole '_we're-sleeping-together-but-it's-a-secret_' thing."

The kitchen went silent. John and Daniel looked at Vala and then Ronon and Jennifer in unison, a look of shock on Daniel's face and a look of 'I didn't need to know that this early' on John's.

"I'm going to get dressed; big day ahead of us!" Vala skipped from the room, pulling her hair up into a ponytail as she left.

There was stillness in Vala's wake.

John was the first to break the silence and voice his confusion and disbelief. "Wait a minute; did she just say sleeping together?"

Ronon and Jennifer looked at each other.

* * *

Jack rolled his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time as Rodney poked at his eggs with his fork.

"_For crying out loud_ **eat the eggs**!" Jack finally burst out. Teal'c looked up from the paper with a raised eyebrow.

Rodney looked indignant. "I detect a hint of citrus; I need to make sure you're not trying to kill me or something,"

Jack raised both eyebrows, "What?!"

"Well, I noticed how you got frustrated after I couldn't use the pillows or the mattress or the comforter or the soap you had, and I got the feeling I might be at risk,"

"You noticed that did you?" Jack barely contained his sarcasm. "There's no citrus in the eggs. Eat them or you won't eat until lunch at the hotel!" Jack finished, leaving the kitchen with his mug of coffee.

Jack's dramatic exit probably would have worked a little better if his hair hadn't been sticking up like he'd stuck his finger in a light socket and he hadn't been wearing his Bart Simpson pyjamas.

Teal'c looked back down to his paper, a Jaffa smirk firmly planted on his face. Rodney frowned at him and then continued poking at the eggs until he took a tentative bite.

Jack continued to mutter until he reached the living room where he picked up the phone and hit the second speed dial.

The person picked up on the third ring and Jack felt at least some of his frustration melt a little at the sound of their voice.

"_Hello?_"

"It's like living with a 5 year old! A neurotic, obsessive, whiney 5 year old!" he vented, pacing the living room.

"_Jack?_"

"Yeah, Carter, it's me." Jack confirmed, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"_Sir, it's 8 in the morning; how can Rodney be bugging you so early?_"

"What have I said about the 'sir', Carter?" Jack tried, frustration nearly gone now.

Sam chuckled on the other side of the line. "_Well, when you call me Carter, all bets are off, sir._"

"Sorry Sam; it's just...he can't use the down filled pillow, or sleep on the 4 year old mattress because it has to be new or prescription, he can't use the comforter because of the fabric softener and the soap is too rough for his _sensitivities_." Jack complained, stopping in front of the TV and switching it on to the cartoons.

"_Well, it's only for today, and then we switch people, okay? And Jack, turn off the cartoons before you eat your breakfast or you'll starve 'til lunch,_" Sam scolded teasingly.

Jack froze mid cartoon hop and looked left and right, out the window and behind the couch, just to reassure himself that she couldn't in fact see him.

"You know me too well, Sam."

"_I know Jack, it's kind of scary,_" Sam laughed before hanging up the phone.

Jack smiled and hit the off button on his own phone, flicking the cartoon back on and reclining on the couch.

* * *

"Who was that?" Elizabeth asked, bleary eyed, as she walked into the living room from the spare bedroom.

Sam turned mid sip and regarded the other woman. "Sorry, did it wake you? Jack is just having some early morning fun with McKay; apparently round one goes to Rodney."

Elizabeth chuckled along with Sam and took a seat on the couch next to her. "There's coffee in the kitchen," Sam added, turning back to the news.

"Oh, I'm not used to coffee again yet, something about being without it for so long; it's like giving it up cold turkey. And the phone didn't wake me up; Torren's not quite used to the room yet."

Sam smiled sympathetically. "Poor little guy; I hope Teyla was alright in the bedroom,"

"It was very comfortable, Sam, thank you," Teyla replied, coming into the room and having heard the tail end of the conversation down the hall.

"Good, there's coffee in the kitchen," Teyla wandered in to see the coffee and Elizabeth watched Sam closely.

"You know, I think you're glowing." Elizabeth said with a sly smile. "Does this mean there's something there with General O'Neil?"

Sam blushed and stared resolutely at the news. "Officially? No, that's kind of against the rules, I mean, it doesnt directly apply to us anymore, but really, it can only be frowned upon. It's complicated." Sam tried to explain.

"I know how that feels," Elizabeth commented, accepting Torren as Teyla took a seat next to her on the couch with a hot mug of coffee.

"What do you mean?"

Elizabeth froze; essentially, if she was to go back to work on Atlantis as a civilian, or any capacity other than expedition leader, this was her boss. She couldn't be telling her boss this kind of thing, could she?

"Believe me, if this has something to do with John Sheppard, I will not stand in your way nor hold it against you; if you still don't believe me, it's too early to be Lt. Col. Sam Carter. I'm just Sam before 10 am this week."

Elizabeth sighed a breath of relief and Teyla smiled. "Elizabeth has feelings for John, and John for Elizabeth; the problem is that they will not admit it to one another openly enough to begin a relationship,"

Elizabeth looked at Teyla as the Athosian explained.

"Ah," Sam said, sipping her coffee. "That is familiar territory around here," she commented.

"Something tells me this is going to be an interesting wedding," Elizabeth sighed, deciding to try that cup of caffeine after all.

* * *

mkay! you know my begging routine;

plz plz plz review, i'm trying to write this up as quick as possible, seeing as how there's only a few left! plz!!

lol okay im done.

much appreciated and you guys totally rock!

Juliet 3


	19. Chapter 19

OK so this is late, i know, but my laptop decided to crap out AGAIN, but here it is! another chapter!!

enjoy!

* * *

**Home to Me**

* * *

"Can I just say that this day has been a nightmare? I swear I think _everyone's_ gone insane," John muttered to Elizabeth as the group split up to get various wedding tasks done. By some, ahem, coincidence, Vala had sent John to get flowers by mistake, 'not knowing' that Elizabeth had already been delegated the task by Sam.

"Really? I'm quite enjoying myself; I've missed Earth, and after all the chaos that's happened, it's nice to be sitting in the middle of a food court at the mall, eating disgusting tacos at outrageous prices," Elizabeth said, taking a sip of her water.

John smirked at her, "Yeah, well you don't have Vala bouncing around with frilly pink dresses or Ronon and Jennifer trying to hide their obvious relationship. It's driving me **insane**," He repeated, biting into his own overpriced taco from Taco Hut.

Elizabeth chuckled and rested her elbows on the table, folding her fingers in front of her.

John did a mental double take, a small smile creeping onto his face at this familiar position for the former leader of Atlantis.

"So you're telling me you would rather be fighting the Wraith and the Replicators, getting shot at, risking your life and watching your friends do the same than be here, enjoying this wedding?" Elizabeth bit her tongue against the 'with me' she'd wanted to add at the end of that sentence. She was trying oh-so hard to suppress these little slips. Everything was so confusing, it would be good to get perspective without John clouding her thoughts and distracting her.

"Okay, well when you word it that way, this does sound a hundred times better; but if Vala asks me _one more time_ which dress I like more, or if Ronon teases me _one more time_ about being called **'Cl. Cutie Pie'**, I swear I'm moving in with you. And I snore."

Elizabeth smirked and shook her it; it was times like these when they were both relaxed that she found herself willing and able to flirt with him, to enjoy his company. To like him more than she should let herself.

"Well, to be honest with you, living in such tight quarters with Teyla and Torren isn't ideal either; I care for them so much, I hate to even say it, but waking up at 4 in the morning isn't what I would call relaxing." Elizabeth sighed.

"We should stay with Sam and Jack. If they were staying together." John commented, polishing off the taco and nodding hopefully at hers. Elizabeth shook her head and pushed it towards him.

"Why would you say that?" Elizabeth asked curiously as John took a huge bite of the last half of her taco.

"Well, they're like Ronon and Jennifer, only much better at hiding it," John said around his mouthful, garbling some of the words.

Elizabeth frowned in confusion, "So you noticed too? I didn't think they would still be fighting this, they aren't even in the same chain of command anymore; not really, I mean, she's leader of Atlantis, that's got to come close to equaling the status of a general on Earth right?"

"Not necessarily," John said before swallowing the huge mouthful, "If Jack ever came to Atlantis, he would still outrank her, just like when she's here, she's his subordinate, more or less." He explained.

"Well that sucks," Elizabeth said offhandedly, receiving an odd half smirk half smile and all surprised look from John. "What?"

"Never heard you talk like that before, what happened to the commander of the English language?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "I'm not like that all the time," she said simply, finishing her water.

"So we should get back with these flowers, I think that family over there is looking at us funny," John remarked, grinning and gesturing with his head at the table to their left; the family was in fact sneaking glances every now and then, at both John and Elizabeth and the floral arrangement next to John on the adjoining table.

"Maybe, but I don't understand how we're going to fit all this in the car; or in the elevator to get downstairs to the car for that matter," Elizabeth replied, looking over the massive volume of flowers.

There were at least 20 small baskets of flowers, filled with red and pink roses and covered in plastic, 5 huge baskets of white lilies and tiger lilies, not to mention the huge flower centre piece for the wedding party table filled with bright purple orchids and specially dyed blue roses and flowers they'd forgotten the names of, but were vibrant enough to catch the attention of most of the food court.

"I still can't believe we managed to get them from the shop to _here_ without too much trouble," John commented, piling all the garbage on the tray.

He spotted a passing group of teenagers, 2 girls and 3 boys, and hailed them over with a wave.

"You guys want to make 10 bucks each?"

* * *

"I think it was mean sending them both; I think they're gonna figure us out," Jennifer told Vala as she sat in the back seat of the care next to the bride to be. Ronon was up front with Daniel, watching how the car was operated and making conversation about driving it later.

"_Shh_, they'll **hear you**! And they won't suspect us, we were very subtle; I was a very talented…individual…before Daniel helped straighten out my ways. I can be tricky too," Vala whispered back, watching for signs that Daniel or Ronon were listening over the roar of the open windows or the low drone of the radio show.

"But Sam knew that Elizabeth was supposed to go get the flowers; you don't think she'll figure out that you sent John too? She's likely to catch on to this little scheme of yours eventually! She's smarter than Rodney!" Jennifer was getting louder and by the end of the sentence Vala had to slap a hand over her mouth. Luckily Daniel could be so oblivious and Ronon so indifferent.

"_Quiet_! And it doesn't matter if **Sam** finds out, only if _Elizabeth or Col. Cutie Pie do_," Vala smiled.

Jennifer laughed at the nickname and Daniel looked in the rear view mirror at them at a red light. "What are you two plotting back there?"

"Nothing darling; doesn't green mean go?" Vala replied innocently, smiling widely.

Daniel narrowed his eyes but stepped on the gas, vowing to pay more attention to his wife-to-be in the back seat.

* * *

"This is ridiculous! Why would we, three **men**, be sent to pick up the _bridesmaids_ dresses while the _actual _bride and bridesmaids are the ones picking up **our** tuxes?" Rodney exclaimed, sitting in the middle of the dress shop with Teal'c and Jack.

Jack rolled his eyes and clenched his fists before answering Rodney with a tight voice, "Because, McKay, this is how it was dealt out, if you don't like it…well…I don't care if you don't like it. Deal with it and stop whining!"

Rodney gave him a look before shutting and looking around, "Oh, look, a lime green one," he said, moving off to look at it.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at Jack.

"Don't look at me, I never understand him,"

* * *

Teyla sighed somewhere between the 4th and 5th spoonful of food hitting Sam's tiled kitchen floor.

"I do not think Torren enjoys this baby food," she smiled, stooping to wipe up the mess again.

Sam looked up from her laptop and grinned, "It's alright, leave the floor, I'll just mop it later. As for the baby food, we can probably find something else he likes," she stood and moved into the kitchen.

From outside, voices drifted into the kitchen, making the women and baby stop and listen.

"If you say **one more word**, I swear I will _shoot you in the face_!"

"You would_ not_, Sam wouldn't let you! Besides, you aren't wearing your gun!"

"I'll find some _other_ way to end you then!"

"Oh, **please**, I'm not afraid of you while you're carrying that thing!"

"It would be wise not to continue yelling outside Samantha Carter's home; the neighbours are listening."

Sam went to the door and pulled it open in curiosity and had to fight down the giggle that threatened to escape.

Jack O'Neil, strong, manly general, stood with a frilly pink dress on a hanger over his head, the dress falling in front of him, his head through the hole in the hanger.

"Oh, _Jack_." Was all Sam could say as she took the other handfuls of clothes from him and let him in the house. Teal'c and Rodney followed, setting down their dresses as well.

"It's not my fault, I had no other way of carrying it!" he snapped, leaning against the doorframe after tearing it off his head.

"Careful," Sam warned, laying a hand on his forearm as she took it from him, a smile still tugging at the corners of her lips.

The door remained open and John and Elizabeth came in next, loaded down with flowers and sneezing incessantly.

"Somebody help us before we die a slow and flowery death by lilies," John sneezed out, hefting the flowers in the nearest set of hands, which happened to be Rodney's.

"Oh, no, I-," he was cut off himself by a huge sneeze and a coughing fit to follow. Teyla came out of the kitchen, having taken the time to neutralize her face from the laughter she'd allowed quietly in the kitchen.

"Go and feed Torren, Rodney, I will help with the flowers."

"See, I knew you were all trying to-_sneeze_-kill me! This is ridic-_sneeze_-ulous," he moved quickly into the kitchen and the others fought the laughter again, moving out to collect the rest of the flowers.

* * *

It was late before Vala, Daniel, Jennifer and Ronon returned, having not actually found the place they were looking for to pick up the tuxes, instead bringing boxes and boxes of pizza to eat for dinner.

"Oh, this smells good!" Vala bubbled as she was handed a few boxes to carry into the house. They'd gathered at Sam's, it being the most convenient, and seemed to camping out for the night.

"Food!" Jennifer called as they entered the house with the pizza, pop, beer and breadsticks.

They were rushed by McKay and Ronon who fought over the top box before Ronon won with a stare, John close behind with the next one and Rodney left with the breadsticks.

"Oh, come on! Save some for me! My blood sugar's low! Guys!" he hurried into the kitchen to stake his claim on some pizza.

"So, got lost did you Daniel?" Jack mused, wandering past into the kitchen. Daniel glared and kicked off his shoes like everyone else had.

"Shut up, Jack," he said, following to get his own pizza.

* * *

Within 20 minutes everyone settled into watch a movie with their food.

The living room was small, so quarters were tight; Vala had no problem sitting on Daniel's lap, though it severely impacted upon his ability to actually eat his pizza. Needless to say he didn't mind. Ronon and Jennifer didn't seem to mind being squished beside each other and the engaged couple, even if McKay was on the other side of them.

Teyla cuddled up with Torren on her lap with a new bottle, courtesy of Sam, and was munching on her own pizza on the armchair.

Elizabeth had thrown down a few cushions at Sam's okay and resigned herself to the carpeted floor before the others had even begun fighting over the seats and John had casually slid down next to her, both leaning against the coffee table, the closest to the television.

Somehow, amid the chaos of finding places to sit, Sam and Jack had disappeared.

But nobody noticed now as Daniel flipped off the lights, the switch being above his head, and threw the room into a movie-theatre darkness.

If they thought the _wedding_ was going to interesting, it had nothing on how this movie night was going to turn out…

* * *

hehe, some 'interesting' stuff planned next!  
as always thanks for the awesome reviews you've written so far and hopefully will write in the very near future (like when you're done reading this note?)

thanks guys!

Juliet


	20. Chapter 20

Hey guys, sorry I've been gone forever, but I'm finally posting!

* * *

**Home to Me**

* * *

John sighed again as the rest of the houseguests jumped. The movie wasn't actually that scary, especially seeing as how they encountered worse things all the time; not to mention the cheesy plot line, predictable story and ridiculously horrible actors.

Beside him, Elizabeth sighed as well. She'd seen this movie way more than once and was beyond bored with the scenes playing across the screen in front of her. The surround sound was mildly amusing, but other than that, she was tired and just wanted to sleep. She was already nodding off.

Vala and Jennifer looked at each other stealthily from their seats, nodding in unison. It was already decided who would do the deed.

There were multiple factors intensely scrutinized before it was pronounced that Vala would be the one to execute this part of their plan.

Jennifer bit her lip as Vala prepared herself for the 'attack'.

'_This is not going to end well_,' Jennifer thought before mentally shaking herself. '_No, this **will** go well, it **will** work and they **will **thank us_.'

She glanced at the pair on the floor and then back at Vala who was slowly shifting in Daniel's arms.

'_They **might** thank us. One day. In the far, far, future_.'

Vala carefully maneuvered herself from Daniel's lovely grasp and took hold of her cup of coke.

She inched forward before turning and very subtly if she did say so herself, she whispered to Daniel.

"I'm going to fill my cup, darling, would you like more as well?" She batted her eyelashes sweetly at Daniel, smiling and shaking her cup a little.

Daniel eyed her warily before reaching for his cup too. Vala grinned victoriously as the timing synched up and before anyone knew what was happening…

* * *

"I can't believe she did that." John said in an annoyed tone from behind the bathroom door.

"I can't believe she even **managed** to do that. It was, so _chaotic_." Elizabeth marveled from her spot leaning against the wall outside the door.

They were in Sam's bedroom, recovering from Vala.

"I mean, how could she not have realized? There was music and cues and everything! A deaf and blind man could have known it was coming even if he was sitting in the next house!" John continued, ignoring Elizabeth's voice.

"It was just so, I don't even know how to explain it." Elizabeth said again, pushing off the wall to sit on Sam's bed.

John eventually came out of the bathroom, holding his saturated clothes in one hand and toweling his hair with the other. Elizabeth's hair was almost dry and her clothes were waiting in the washing machine to be joined by John's.

"I think it was planned," John said tensely, moving off to laundry room. Elizabeth followed.

"How could anyone plan that? It was such a Rodney McKay accident." Elizabeth protested.

John shook his head. "I don't know. But it was. I know it."

Elizabeth chuckled and let John drop his clothes into the washing machine before pushing the start button. The sound of the machine drowned out the sounds of the movie, unpaused rewound to the point the chaos had erupted off screen.

"You have to admit, it was kind of funny though," Elizabeth said, smiling at John.

* * *

Vala chose the moment carefully, the music was winding up, suspenseful, she had to move a little slower and then…**NOW**!

A woman screamed on screen and Vala flung herself around, whipping the cups in John and Elizabeth's direction, drenching them and the coffee table completely.

But was that enough? Oh, no. Not by Vala's standards. She pitched herself forward, knowing full well she might hurt herself in the process, though it wasn't likely, and slammed her hands down on the table, catapulting the bowls of chips and popcorn not being eaten by the group up into the air…

…And down on the already sputtering John and Elizabeth. Around her, people began jumping up, shouting in surprise, displacing their significant others and children and helping everyone.

Chaos; beautiful, loud, messy, _**chaos**_. Vala smiled widely from her place kneeling on the floor as people darted around her and the small room, full of bodies.

She saw Jennifer getting up to help as well, figured she should too, considering she wanted to keep up the appearance of these near-hysterics being an 'accident'.

Vala saw another opening. She leaped up to help Elizabeth step over the crushed chips and popcorn and cups and none-too gently, or accidentally for that matter, shoved her directly in John's sticky body. There was a dull thud as they collided and John caught her, stumbling back slightly.

"Oops, maybe I should just stop moving all together." Vala apologized sweetly, sitting down brightly on the floor, on a clean patch of cushion. She looked over at Jennifer and the doctor was helping to mop up the mess.

While grinning madly. They gave each other quick, covert thumbs up.

* * *

"Okay, kind of funny. But next time we sit as far from her as we can get." John declared, moving towards the door.

They went to leave when the beige painted door slammed shut in front of them with a resounding bang. Between the movie and the washing machine, nobody but the two of them and whoever had shut it would have heard it.

"Great. Just…great." John sighed, letting his head thud against the door as he jiggled the handle, finding it stuck.

Elizabeth just smiled slightly and hopped up to sit on the dryer.

On the other side of the door, Jennifer Keller strolled away to the bathroom, smiling a thousand watt smile and humming merrily to herself.

* * *

"Um, where are Elizabeth and John?" Daniel asked at the end of the movie, having finished his speech about any discrepancies in the plot, of which there were many.

Vala looked up in sudden alarm and caught Jennifer's proud, blushing face. She smirked proudly as well and spoke up.

"Perhaps off being naughty in a closet? What's that game called again Sam, help me out here?"

Sam chuckled slightly, standing and stretching. "Seven minutes in heaven."

Vala smiled widely, "Right, that's the one."

"I'll go find them, not that I really want to if they're, well, never mind." Jack said, frowning at his words before going off down the hall to search.

"Well I guess it's time I took my future wife home before she burns your house down, Sam." Daniel said, gripping Vala around the shoulders and smiling forcefully.

Sam smiled back and saw them off before going to help clean up everything from the evening.

* * *

"What were you thinking?" Daniel asked calmly in the car as he and Vala drove down the dark streets.

Vala looked over at him suspiciously. "What do you mean? I did nothing but behave."

Daniel just sent a quick stare her way, one that said 'yeah like I'm gonna believe that'.

"I may be a _little_ oblivious sometimes but I saw what you did." Daniel said, turning his attention back to the road.

"Okay, fine, take my fun away. But you know what I'm doing is right. Jennifer agrees with me too!" Vala pouted.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Daniel looked confused for a moment.

"Oh, **really**, Daniel you can't _tell_? They're almost as bad as Sam and Jack!" Vala exclaimed loudly. Daniel swerved at the sudden volume.

"Jeez! What are you talking about? You think that Dr. Weir and Col. Sheppard are…"

"Made for each other? Pining after each other? Longing for each other's delicious touch? Take your pick darling, they've got them all." Vala declared, turning in her seat slightly to face Daniel.

Daniel thought about it for a moment. "I can see certain resemblances between their behavior and Jack and Sam's. By the way, where did they disappear to in the middle of the movie?"

Vala blinked. "What?"

"Jack and Sam, in the middle of the movie, they were, gone." Daniel said.

"Gone?"

"As in, not in the room," Daniel said a little exasperated.

"Really, interesting, I knew that some-," she stopped herself short. Daniel smirked, still facing forward.

"You know, that's going to have to stop when we're married. This whole playing with my mind thing," Vala pouted again.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Now, yes, I've noticed the relationship between Elizabeth and John."

"Thank you. And what will you help us do about it?"

"Ah, yes, you've dragged Dr. Keller into this too, haven't you? Of course you have."

Vala thwacked his arm. "She was as willing as I was. Now, really Daniel, what will you help us with?"

She waited in anticipation.

"Alright, count me in. But I'm not throwing myself around a living room or having them sneak off somewhere,"

Vala beamed. "Oh wonderful. And I didn't get them to sneak off anywhere. Wherever they are, innocent little Jennifer Keller locked them up there."

Daniel sighed. "Of course."

* * *

"So, whatcha doing?" Jack said as he opened the door to see John and Elizabeth on the floor, next to each other and very close.

They jumped up. "Nothing," They chorused, like school children caught by a teacher.

They rushed past the smirking general and out into the living room, blushing the whole way.

* * *

hmmm. lol interesting. what were they doing indeed? guesses?

Juliet =]


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